Don't Ignore Housing's Role in the Far Right's Rise

Gains by far-right parties in this month’s European Union elections should serve as a reminder of the dangers of failing to address the region’s chronic problems of inadequate housing supply and worsening affordability. Few other issues have greater potential to damage the social fabric and undermine democracy.

Housing wasn’t at the forefront of this month’s campaigning, but we can be sure it was part of the background music. The cost and availability of shelter cause part of the economic anxiety that has been exploited by populist politicians, who have scapegoated immigrants for a squeeze that owes more to decades of underbuilding and restrictive planning policies. This in turn has been exacerbated by a near-perfect storm of higher interest rates and surging construction costs in the wake of the Covid pandemic and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.