Is Europe’s gentrification problem getting worse, or better?
At a macro level, the former appears to be the obvious answer. With data from the European Union showing average house prices going up by more than 60 percent and rents by more than 20 percent in the past decade, the need for affordable and good-quality housing has never been more vital across a continent where 83 percent of people are projected to live in urban areas by 2050.
And after years of affordable and social housing initiatives, Airbnb restrictions and rent cap programmes — all of which have delivered questionable results — regeneration projects have continued to bear the brunt of the blame for Europe’s housing emergency.
The EU Parliament recently formally acknowledged the scale of the issue by voting in favour of the EU’s first-ever European Affordable Housing Plan. It says coordinated action is needed to stem a crisis that is not only hampering EU competitiveness, but also threate
