The increased cost of living is weighing on Europeans' rights, an EU agency said in a report published Thursday, citing rising housing costs that are making people homeless.
Rising housing costs are putting the right to adequate housing increasingly out of reach for many Europeans, according to the Vienna-based European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).
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In their annual report, FRA says that house prices in the EU as a whole rose by 53% between 2015 and 2024, while rents increased by nearly 17% over the same period,, citing data from EU agency Eurostat.
"Soaring costs affect many individuals and families, as more and more people cannot afford their homes and risk becoming homeless," FRA Director Sirpa Rautio said in the report.
More than two-thirds of EU residents own their homes; however, less than half of those with incomes below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold are homeowners.
Young people in Europe are among the groups hardest hit by housing affordability pressures, according to the report.
"Young people and vulnerable groups face hardships that undermine their access to the basic right to adequate housing, and many remain unprotected against eviction," Rautio said.
At the same time, there are indications that homelessness is on the rise, according to the FRA, with the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless (Feantsa) estimating that nearly 1.3 million people were experiencing homelessness in the EU in 2025.
The FRA noted that the right to adequate housing is recognised under international human rights law and applies to everyone, including migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. International and European agreements also require governments to prevent homelessness, improve access to affordable housing and protect people from discrimination in housing.
In its report, the FRA calls for a rights-based approach to housing to address homelessness effectively, protect against forced evictions and provide safeguards for people in vulnerable situations, warning that growing housing insecurity is leaving more people at risk of homelessness.
The EU is also "increasingly tested in upholding rules-based governance and fundamental rights" given "intense geopolitical instability and security threats", Rautio noted.
"The unpredictable international environment and ongoing wars are having an impact here at home — not least on people's sense of safety and wellbeing," she said.
The report covers all 27 EU member states, as well as Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia.
