As part of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage will host a meeting of EU Ministers to discuss homelessness. This meeting offers an opportunity for Ministers to come together to discuss and develop proactive policies to combat homelessness at a European level.
For the first time, Ministers with responsibility for homelessness and housing, will meet to discuss shared priorities, including key elements of the EU Affordable housing Plan (published in December 2025), with a focus housing exclusion to support vulnerable persons in precarious housing situations and to prevent and address homelessness.
The event will also bring together representatives from members of the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness, created following the Lisbon conference in 2021, and other experts and associations actively involved in combatting homelessness.
The European Platform on Combatting Homelessness (EPOCH) meeting offers an opportunity to engage and work with stakeholders, including cities and service providers to facilitate a better exchange of knowledge and practices, and identify efficient and innovative approaches, to make progress on eradicating homelessness. The Platform is also a concrete deliverable of the European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan to implement Principle 19 on Housing and assistance to the homeless.
The purpose of the Platform is to establish a common understanding and commitment and ensure concrete progress in Member States in the fight against homelessness.
The Irish Presidency coincides with a mid-term review of EPOCH. It will be the five-year anniversary of the launch of EPOCH and in that context it is timely to review the work of the Platform and future work plans.
In addition, in December 2025, the Commission published the EU Affordable Housing Plan, which included a goal to “propose a Council recommendation on fighting housing exclusion to support vulnerable persons in precarious housing situations and to prevent and address homelessness”. This initiative will be presented in the context of the forthcoming Anti-Poverty Strategy and build upon the work of the EPOCH.