(Brussels) “It is time to take action”: this is how the MEP Irene Tinagli, Chair of the European Parliament’s Special Committee on the Housing Crisis, summed up the outcome of the high-level event, organised along with the European Commission about the housing crisis in the EU. “After one and a half years of analyses, after acknowledging problems and finding potential solutions”, she explained, “now we know what needs to be done: we need to take a step further”. At the centre of all this is a joint demand from institutions, industry and civil society to mobilise resources and face a crisis that “needs huge investments”. In her speech during the event that brought together industrial stakeholders, industry associations and professionals, Tinagli insisted on the need to combine public and private investments with a key role for EU budgets: “We cannot do everything with public funds but without these investments we will not go far”. Ahead of the negotiations on the forthcoming Multiannual Financial Framework, she added: “All stakeholders asked for dedicated funds for housing projects, to make cities and regions more affordable”. According to the MEP, the goal of the European strategy should be bringing the market back “to more functional dynamics”, with a focus on families and students. It is the latter, she pointed out, who suffer the most: “We don’t talk about it enough, but they are the future of the Union. If they cannot plan their studies or seize career opportunities because they cannot find affordable housing, we are actually leaving them out”.