Special committee on the Housing Crisis in the European Union Ordinary meeting
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HOUS European Parliament
Follow its sittingsFrancois Edoux
And most of them were drowned at home during this disaster. And over one and a half thousand homes had to be demolished after the passage of Storm Cynthia, because they were built along the coastline along the passage of the storm. And this incident showed just how vulnerable these coastal areas are, and sparked a lot of public policy action to try and prevent this risk. The exposure in France. I'm sorry, but I can't see which slide we're on. If we can have the next one.
I think 1.5 million people in France are actually potentially affected by this marine flooding or coastal flooding risk. That's one in five people. According to our assessments, 1,500,000 homes are potentially impacted. So six and a half thousand, 600,000 houses, but also 730,000 apartments. So I don't know if there's a technical issue, but I'm not seeing the slides change.
Well, it doesn't matter. I'll carry on regardless. The second risk is shoreline retreat. We're lucky in France because we have a national indicator for coastal erosion, and that shows that 20% of our coastline is already retreating. That's since '19, the nineteen fifties, which is 30 square kilometers which have been lost since the nineteen fifties.
We know that around 500 municipalities are affected by the phenomenon, so half essentially of all French coastal communities. It's also important to note that we have some sick 16,000 coastal structures which are there to protect the coastline. If you look at those areas which are in retreat and those which are protected, those to protect the body structures which are built because there was a problem, that brings you to around 50% of French beaches which are concerned by coastal erosion. If we move to the next slide. Well, I don't see the slides moving forward, but I assume they are, so I'll just carry on.
We've carried out estimates for French coastal retreat between now and 2050 for the whole of France, and we have listed the various challenges and issues that may arise in these areas. For 2050, we have a scenario which we consider plausible, which is, as I say, we have the current trends of coastal retreat in which we've observed since the fifties will continue. So one meter per year, if that's the trend, then we assume that will continue until 2050. So that's the as is scenario, the plausible scenario we call it. Here, we assume that the protective structures, which are already there, will remain.
So those structures sort of any homes behind the structures will not be affected. So when we if we play through that scenario, this plausible scenario, the impact is around on 5,200 homes with a market value of €1,100,000,000. In current terms, we haven't tried to carry out inflation adjusted calculations. Of those 5,000 or so homes, 38% are second homes. Obviously, there are business premises included, campsites, and there are public buildings, bits of infrastructure such as major roads, which would also be affected. 200 also breaches across 16 kilometers of the road network according to our simulations. So if we move on to slide six, again, I think the slides are now we're one ahead on it when it comes to the slides.
So here's our estimations for 2,100. Here, the scenario is what we call the inaction scenario. We do nothing, basically. Cost of doing nothing. And it is inevitably not gonna be the same or comparable with 2050.
So it's a specific scenario we've dreamt up in order to try to estimate the cost of doing nothing, where we apply the current trends with regard to coastal retreat. But we in this case scenario, we assume that we haven't maintained the protective structures or we haven't done anything appropriately to cope with the climate change. Essentially, there are no such structures in this scenario. Now this is, obviously, the worst case. This is a very pessimistic scenario.
But because there are no protective structures, sea levels rise over the decades to come. And therefore, in the lower-lying areas, they are flooded by the sea. And here, the areas potentially affected are much greater in area. So we essentially, it's high tide plus one meter for rising sea levels due to climate change. That's essentially the sea level we're talking about.
A lot more homes are affected than in the first scenario. I mentioned 5,200 for 2050, with the plausible scenario. But for the cost of doing nothing scenario, the pessimistic one, we're at 450,000 homes being affected for 2100, and with a market value of €86,000,000,000. So we are in a completely different order of magnitude. There also, there are a lot of industrial, commercial, other business premises affected, 55,000 units and 2,800 or so kilometers of major roads that could be affected, which shows just how vulnerable the coastline is. And, really, that 2100, our coastline coastal areas could be transformed, not necessarily for the better, if this scenario came to pass.
So on slide seven, I wanted to show you some of the documents which I drew on to present these figures, both for coastal retreat and for coastal flooding. And just to underscore that these figures are orders of magnitude at national level, you know, we have had a rather binary scenario applied. I used to say that 100% maintenance of the structure or 0% because we don't have it anymore. But what we know, however, is that municipalities are involved in mapping their exposure to the threat. Only 400 or so of them are involved, which means we've got our mapping.
Our knowledge is going to improve massively, that will help us better understand the risk in the future to our coastal communities. And if we come back to this last, to what I was saying to begin with, actually, the French coastline is both attractive and vulnerable. And so the question is not a question of what will happen, or it's really a question of how we respond to it, where we will have to rethink the way we plan these spaces in order to cope better. Thank you very much for listening.
Maria Liakou
Madam Chair, members of the committee, ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for this invitation. It is an honor for me and for my country to be able to take part in this debate on coastal flooding and shoreline retreat. As a civil engineer and a property appraiser, I have been in direct contact with the effects of these phenomena. In recent years, we've noticed that climate change is no longer a future threat, but rather a real reality. This is due to a combination of factors: coastal erosion, rising sea levels, extreme weather events, tides, groundwater, human inactivity, and so forth.
Speaker 6
Looking more specifically now at an area in Greece, the coastal area of Rio, which is in Patras. You may play the video, please. So we can see the damages on the mainland. The study was conducted over 70 years. The structures included pile walls, rigid surfaces, artificial reefs, and soft reefs. So thanks to these projects, we are able to address the problem, but we're also able to upgrade the area, make it functional.
Speaker 7
Now the consequences of a shoreline retreat can be seen at several levels. Areas have become vulnerable, even uninhabitable. Human life is endangered. The housing stock is either deteriorated or entirely destroyed. Infrastructure is severely affected.
Insurance companies do not cover high risk areas, and the already high percentage of construction cost increases even more. And, this depending on the distance from the coast and geological conditions, there are also social problems. People have to move without sufficient support. The most vulnerable citizens are disproportionately affected. And all of this is directly related to the housing crisis.
Speaker 6
When areas become unsustainable, demand rises, prices rise, and access to decent housing becomes an increasing issue. Now in terms of the population, Greece has one of the world's largest coastlines, over 13,000 kilometers. So Greece is on the front lines, but it is not the only European country that faces this kind of situation. Studies have shown that around 23% of new buildings will be for housing. And this is not a local issue.
Speaker 7
This is a European issue, and so we need a shared strategy. So what can we do? Firstly, we can through prevention, we can collect data. This is crucial. Secondly, we need institutional organization.
We need to create specialized bodies that will exclusively work on the coastal areas. Then we need funding. Thirdly, the European Union has a key role to play in strengthening programs for coastal resilience and housing. However, the ESG criteria when it comes to real estate valuations for financial institutions should be clear and directly linked to financial tools to be able to steer investments towards sustainable solutions. Then, fourthly, we need to develop new technologies that address this new reality.
Speaker 6
We need a new approach that takes into account climate risks. We have a constantly evolving situation. This isn't just about the environment. This also has to do with social policy and cohesion. We live in a constantly evolving situation.
We have a complex geopolitical situation. We have to be realistic. When we have the technology and the institutions necessary.
Speaker 8
So because our translators are making a big effort, but if you can help, okay. Thank you. Just a moment. As
Speaker 6
As European citizens, we have the right to live in safety along the coastlines and to have families in these areas, as well as to have future generations also have this right. So we have to act in a coordinated and determined fashion. Thank you.
Irene Tinagli
Okay. Thank you very much. Now I have questions, and I give first the floor to Isabel Ekallinec from the EPP. Thank.
Isabelle Le Callennec
You, chairwoman. Thank you for organizing this public hearing on the coastline retreat. The European Environment Agency has talked about rising sea levels and more frequent, more extreme weather events. We could see an exacerbation, a 10-fold exacerbation, and that will make a real difference to coastal dwellings in Europe by 2050. Now the European Union has not been inactive here.
There is a floods directive and a climate mitigation strategy, a strategy for coastal zones, support for implementation at local level through Horizon Europe. The commission has issued a call for proposals to look at the resilience of coastal communities and look at the European oceans strategy. Anyone who is interested should take a look at this. Now picking up on what you have said, we need to look at the consequences of any assessment to look at construction, what happens to the existing housing, any plans to build in these regions? There are very serious difficulties.
It is very difficult to secure insurance for the existing housing stock along the coastal communities, and that will lead to greater regional disparities. In France, as we heard from the representative, this impacts one-fifth of the coastline, some 500 municipalities currently threatened by coastline retreat or shoreline retreat. We will hear about South Bigodan, and we will hear about how local communities are seeking suitable, tailored solutions to tackle this problem. Now, thank you for pointing out that we need to do more to ensure prevention. I have a question.
We're looking at mapping out the current state of play and possible risks. What are we doing with the existing state of play and the existing housing stock or the infrastructure currently in place? And what should we do in future? We have a clear picture now. We often hear "never again" as a slogan.
So my questions are for the REMA representative. You talk about initiatives being taken in France. You pointed out that municipalities are willing to explore innovative solutions, but what do they need to ensure the best possible approach? As you pointed out, funding will be crucial. So my question to you, madam, is what are your expectations of the European Union in particular?
We are currently working on the 2028, 2034 MFF. We are here in the housing special committee. We know that there are urgent needs. Do you have any recommendations? What would they be?
Irene Tinagli
Thank you, Isabelle. Now I give the floor to Alicia Holmes, Janelle, for the assembly. Thank.
Speaker 11
You, chair. Thank you for the presentations. They were very interesting. So these were cases in France and Greece, specifically. But picking up on what Isabelle has said, it would be good to hear about what we can do at the European level to help because we can't reorganize the territory from here, but there are measures that we can take to help, with measures on the ground to make these places safer and less vulnerable to disasters.
I think that's a very important investment. We can't prevent heavy rainfall, but we can invest in prevention when it comes to the environment and protecting it. I would like to know how we can address specific characteristics of island territories that are, of course, completely surrounded by coastal areas because they're completely surrounded by the sea. I'm sure Greece had a great deal of experience with this because Greece has many islands, but we've spoken about the right to stay here in this committee. So we'd like to know how we can make this a reality with prevention, investment, and protecting citizens.
Thank you.
Irene Tinagli
Thank you very much. Now I give back the floor to our guests for the answer, starting with Mr. Edou.
Francois Edoux
Thank you for those questions. Quite a lot of questions there. I'll try to take them one by one. In terms of what needs to be done, first of all, we need to better understand what we're dealing with. These are complex phenomena.
There's a lot of interaction between phenomena. So you have the wind, the tides, the coast profile, etc. And so you really need to monitor the coastline in order to demonstrate to the locals that there have been changes. Things are changing, and that raises awareness amongst the population. There are a few cases where at local level, but we're at we need to protect scale up to the national level.
And we, of course, need to go out in the field as well and see what's being done. Then we have a number of these local mappings, which are being done across 500 or about half the coastal communities. And to simplify, what that's going to result in is a ban on new building. But what we want to try and avoid doing is adding to the building stock in areas which are exposed to flooding and coastal erosion. That's just the first step, however, because what we need to do afterwards is have a proper local strategy.
Having understood the risk, you then need to determine what you do with that understanding of the risk. And here, what we're trying to do under the 2021 climate resilience law is we want to try and encourage municipalities to draw up local strategies in order to incorporate these findings into their local plans, which will give rise in turn to action plans with various actions that can be taken quite quickly. For example, buying up land, inland from the coast. So if you think you might need to relocate a neighborhood, well, that's something you can do already. Also reinforce existing structures, look at whether you maintain them or whether you reinforce them.
Obviously, that cost has a cost, but they need to be resized. We're taking into account likely rise in sea levels, etcetera. So that's the kind of thing that needs to be done under these overall strategies. What we also need is to demonstrate that the solutions exist. We need to promote those. We need to carry out tests, and to that indeed, a number of municipalities have managed to take action and get things going.
For example, using nature based solutions to avoid having to build new structures because they protect, but they also those structures, I should say, are protected, they're also disruptive of the ecosystem to the land and that, therefore, the erosion is simply moved elsewhere. And so nature-based solutions can be a useful thing to promote. And something you alluded to towards the end there, in terms of funding. The French government is setting up what they call the green fund, which currently funds 80% of the local maps being drawn up by local authorities. That green fund also funds what we call PPAs, so local planning local plans in France.
There are seven covering the whole French territory. Now they cover the coastline and the works, any works campaigns resulting from the analysis. That's what we're looking at doing in France. I hope that answers your question.
Speaker 7
Financing is indeed vital to ensure prevention and to protect existing housing. There is a very small housing stock. The more public work is carried out. The earlier we take action, the better we can protect local inhabitants, reduce any disparities. That will be possible by carrying out the necessary public works and by conducting research into innovative solutions.
We need to work hard to reduce costs. We are not always looking for something from the European Union, but the flood management plan requires financing in Greece. We have a national plan stipulating that this needs to be mapped out. We need all the various organizations involved, input from the citizens. Renovation is all part of the plan.
Speaker 6
But to implement the plan, we need financing. We live in very fraught geopolitical times. That drives up costs, and I do believe that the European Union can help out here. Thank you.
Irene Tinagli
Thank you very much. I don't know if you have other additional things that you want to add before we move on to the second panel, either among the speakers or the colleagues. I think this is very, very interesting, but I have myself one thought more than a question, but also a question. What if this is something that has been going on for a long time? Obviously, things have already happened, as we've seen in some presentations. Apparently, thousands of houses on shoreline have already been affected.
But if I remember what the first presentation in particular, what it's been said is that in the past 30 years or so, there has been continuous new construction in these areas also. So I'm wondering what has been done also to prevent the situation, what could be done also at the national level that, of course, we cannot interfere with, but at least we can issue recommendations. We can try to open a discussion with the member states. What do you think could have been done to make things at least not worse, which has not been done? Why hasn't it been done?
I wonder why some governments, so also local and national governments, continued to allow building in areas when everybody knew that those areas were at risk and what could be done now at least to stop making the same mistakes. If someone is trying to do that, are there specific legislation that could be done to avoid that? And some country doing anything about that? Thank you. I don't know.
Maybe we can start again with Mr. Edu.
Francois Edoux
Thank you. Just to answer that question. Well, the coastline is very attractive, and there's a strong demand. A lot of people want to live close to the sea. I mean, obviously, there's tourist industry activities as well.
And so we need to both prevent risk and have an economy which is coast-based. And there have been a number of things done. So risk prevention plans have existed in France for over 30 years now, which have prohibited building in the most exposed areas. And that's particularly to protect against coastal flooding. But also land slips around cliffs, there are specific plans which limit the buildability of some of these exposed areas.
More recently, we have these local maps, which local authorities are in charge of. I mentioned that earlier. That's only been the last 2 or 3 years. So it's recent, but it will make a real difference in terms of urban, town, and country planning. And, we'll stop additional buildings from being built in exposed areas.
And so there is action. There are things going forward in terms of regulation. And then there's the existing building stock, which, of course, is a more difficult or different challenge to manage. And we could potentially relocate some areas, put them further inland. That's more complex.
It costs a lot of money. Takes quite a lot of re-engineering as well. You have to reinvent the coastline. What I'd like to add is that there is a real need to reach out and raise awareness amongst local people. Nothing's gonna happen unless it's accepted.
And that's that we need to redesign, rethink, reconfigure the coastline over the next few decades. And to do that, we need to reach out to the local people, raise awareness, consult, and together, reinvent the coastline of tomorrow.
Speaker 7
In Greece, urban services are in charge of all new construction before the construction takes place. We have permitting. Sometimes illegal constructions are destroyed. So there are consequences in some areas and on the island. For example, we have a lot of tourism, whether that's in the Mediterranean, close to the sea.
Speaker 6
Everyone likes to be on the coastline. They like to live on the coastline, but they have to be boundaries. And as I was describing, we're trying to deal with this issue. Thank you.
Irene Tinagli
Thank you. Okay. Thank you very much. It was very interesting, so thank you to our experts. Now we move on to the second panel.
And I yes, with the first panel, we examined the scientific and valuation dimensions of coastal risk. And now the second panel turns to the human and governance realities on the ground. The communities most exposed to coastal flooding and shoreline retreat are already struggling with difficult questions, so how to manage housing in at-risk zones, how to plan for relocation and adaptation, how to reconcile these imperatives with the national land use objectives. So to address these questions, which have partially already been addressed in the first panel, because it's always very difficult to disentangle the, in this case, scientific dimension from the policy dimension. But in any case, we are going to go deeper, and we are joined by three experts with direct practical experience.
Stephane LaDore is the mayor of Pont Labbe and President of the Communauté de Communauté du Paris B. Goudon Suite. And Mr. Gerardo Roger Fernandez is an architect and urban planner who now leads Pao Urbanismo, a consultancy specialized in translating risk into planning law and management and land management frameworks. And then professor Anna Paula is an associate professor at the University of Genoa whose research on urban hydrology, flood risk mitigation and nature based solutions is carried out through several funded European projects, including Antereg and Horizon Europe.
The objective of this second panel is to learn from those who have direct experience managing these challenges. And together, they will help us understand what governance tools, planning frameworks, and engineering approaches are available to protect housing and communities from coastal flooding and shoreline retreat. So we look forward to hearing from each of our speakers and to a discussion. So I invite our three speakers to present their work each for six minutes. And let's start with Mr.
Roger Fernandez. Fernandez.
Gerardo Roger Fernandez
Good afternoon. Thank you for the invitation to speak at this very interesting session. I'm going to outline Spain's system, which we've had since the end of the nineteen eighties. First and foremost, let's look at the Spanish case. Spain's economic, social, and urban history has always been closely tied to the sea.
And Spain has, from what I understand, one of the longest coastlines in Europe, around just over 8,000 kilometers of coastline, and it has a very unique characteristic. It has ports open to three seas. In the North, it has a point of access that was historically more industrial, and had economic ties with the North of Europe. Then we have the Mediterranean point of entry, which was the cultural point of entry, the connection to the Mediterranean, to Greece, to Rome, to the Middle East, and then we have the Atlantic Port. And that's the access point to trade and the migration route with America and The Americas.
All of this has made Spain very attractive for settlement. And then with the coastal strip, we have, it's around 5 kilometers. That's what we consider the coastal strip. The surface area is around 40,000 kilometers, and that's about 10% of the total area of Spain. Population density is around 100 people per square kilometer.
That's around normal. That's about average for Europe. But in the coastal area, it's almost five times as much as 450 per square kilometer. And then in times of celebration and holidays, this is three times as many people in that area. So it goes up during the summer time.
So this creates some problems in some regions of Spain. There's a rejection of tourism because of the problems related to this. We have different problems. I've described overpopulation. And then we also have the economic activities that can cause climate change problems, environmental problems.
This can lead to the coastline retreat. So we have the problems with overpopulation and the attraction to the coastline, and then we also have the problem of the encroaching sea, which is also due to economic and social activity. So, what measures has Spain adopted to deal with this topic? Now it's very important to take note of something. Since the 1980s social democratic government, we've had a coastal law, which has a very clear preventive angle.
By law, we know where we can build or not. The coastal law divides the coastal areas into three zones. You have the maritime, the ZMT zone, which is a maritime terrestrial area, and it's from the low water marker to the highest point of water. In Spain, there are no private beaches. All the beaches are public, and you are not allowed to build anything in that area.
Then you also have a protected area, which is 100 meters from the watermark. So these are also non-built-up areas, and you are not allowed to build housing in this area. That is by law. And then you also have the influence area or catchment area, which is a further 500 meters. And there are also some corrective measures here that do not allow for some architectural activity.
So since the 1980s, it is not possible to lawfully build housing in a public area in this maritime, this coastal area or 100 meters from it. So now we have coastal retreat, shoreline retreat, and this will affect the legislation. And we have a rise on average of 3 millimeters when it comes to the sea level on average every year. So how do we handle this? Now we have a transitional.
régime.
Gerardo Roger Fernandez
We have demarcations, spatial boundaries that demarcate the area from the low water point to the highest wave mark. So the rising sea levels can affect the areas, but since the 1980s, we've had measures that ensure that we know what is a public space. But we have indemnities for the special cases. So we have some of the strongest regulations to avoid new issues from arising. And to deal with problems that arise from the changes in the shoreline.
And we can resolve some of these issues reasonably well, but we have the directives and proposals that completely forbid and ban any new urbanization, because we do have a significant portion of the shoreline that is urbanized. But, nevertheless, if there is an increase in tourism and so on, we do have a way to prevent the immediate shoreline from being occupied. Thank you very much.
Irene Tinagli
Thank you very much. Now I give the floor to Mister Ledore, who's joining us remotely. It seems that Mr. Lea Doria is having problems with the connection, so I would like to invite Mrs. Napala to take the floor if she's ready.
I see her, she's connected. Yes. Good afternoon. Good
Anna Palla
Afternoon, everyone. Thank you, first of all, to the committee, in particular its chair, for inviting me to speak at this hearing on the impact of flooding and flood resilience. It's a great pleasure, a great honor for me to participate in this inter-institutional dialogue between the European institutions and the civil society and the academic community to share my experience with combating flood risk in my context. Next slide, please. This will be brief.
As has been said, my name is Anna Palla. I'm an associate professor in hydraulic and maritime structures and hydrology at the University of Genoa. My research interests concern urban hydrology and sustainable solutions in order to make more livable, inclusive, and resilient cities in line with the hours' working group's priorities. The challenge we need to cope with is that of adapting to the risk of flooding and of bolstering the resilience of our systems in a context which is characterized by urban sprawl, soil sealing, and the increasing impact of climate change. The data shows that intense rainfall is more and more frequent in Europe, and that's around a 20% increase in risk of river flooding.
This extra rainfall plus this risk of river flooding means that urban areas are increasingly at risk, especially as we have the water distribution networks are over 40 years old and unable to cope with more and more intense extreme events, particularly in the context of solar ceiling and urban sprawl, as I mentioned. So, next slide, please. And with regards to risk to building, dealing with flood risk is vital to our planning and building policy because it has an impact on the quality of our building stock, amongst other things, as well as quality of life. So in the first step, we need to try to assess the risk posed to our building stock via a number of standardized indicators, framework, looking at the various features, the elements of the building which we exposed, and the indicators. So these assessments need to be based, wherever possible, on measurable criteria whereby you can have a quantitative assessment of severity of risk, but also of exposure and vulnerability.
In terms of the building, this provides us with the support, decision making support, allowing us to identify and select those measures which at local level will be most effective and which will best bolster the resilience of our building stock. I'll move on to the next slide, please. Bolstering resilience in urban context basically means working on the existing systems' ability to recover rapidly, to return to normal rapidly after an extreme event, and avoid that any extreme event, for example, flood, would compromise long term the usability of the facility or the building or people's lives. Now the impact of flooding can be disproportionate on vulnerable groups. And so we're bolstering resilience basically means protecting the cultural and economic life of the city and incorporating climate resilience, quite an adaptation, into local policy.
Next slide, please. So in support of bolstering resilience, what can we do in terms of prevention and adaptation measures? And traditionally, risk management has been very focused around infrastructure, technical measures. So, for example, levies, flood walls, etcetera, whether they be active or passive structures. They're based on individual structures.
Now they are still vital, but they're not enough on their own. We've seen over a number of years that nature based solutions are a wide range of sort of umbrella level of solutions, which are a very useful range of solutions because they allow us to improve the social and environmental aspects of the city as well as providing the level necessary protection. So these can be structured solutions and place the community front and center. The nature-based solutions are possible for adapting buildings to flood risk, and they could be taken at different levels. So the level of an individual building, but also at a neighborhood level.
So building level, you could talk about green roofs, green walls, permeable pavements, flooring, rainwater harvesting systems, etc. And then at neighborhood level, we have blue and green corridors, urban forests, or buyer retention cells. Next slide, please. Here are a few examples, from practice from Genoa showing you how these solutions exist, and so green roofs, for example, on an experimental site, on the roof of the University of Genoa's buildings indeed. And we have, let me get the permeable pay permanent, oh, your pavement, excuse me, from the Ikea car park and a green street within a green corridor along the Via Casa Regis in Genoa, which provides shade and adds to the existing tree cover.
And these can quite easily be incorporated into existing transformation plans for cities. So the challenge now is not to experiment with them and see if they work. It's really step up their deployment across the areas and cities. Thank you. Next.
Now a few examples from Genoa. We're working with the local authorities. We have created a participatory map. This is called the ERCA project, urban resilience to climate change, as well as a number of other projects, Remed and GreenStorm. Now this is an intergenerational project to develop this map to include nature-based solutions, drawing on technical data and contributions from the community in each neighborhood of the district's competence in Genova, Sampa De Arena.
We then looked at a wide implementation of these native based solutions and then addressed specific risks to specific buildings within that district in the context of the Remed project. Next slide. And last slide, indeed. In conclusion, we can say that nature-based solutions provide ecosystem services and help reduce flood risk, in particular, when they are planned and paired with traditional measures. At the same time, the use of standardized systems for risk assessment allows us to select the most efficient adaptation and resilience-boosting measures.
And in order to be successful, what you need is to prioritize community engagement. That's to say, involve people in drawing up and determining local planning strategies in order to make cities and communities resilient and inclusive. Thank you very much for listening. Now this is a few bits of literature that I've drawn on in my presentation, but otherwise, I'll finish. Thank you.
Irene Tinagli
Thank you very much. Now I give the floor to the group's representatives for questions or reflection, and I start with Isabel Kalinec for the EPP.
Speaker 16
Chairwoman, what about Mr.? Lodwari? Will he have an opportunity to take the floor?
Irene Tinagli
Completely. Okay. Now I give the floor. I apologize. Mister Stephane Le Dore, mayor of Pond Labbe, president of the Paris B.
Gaudens suit.
It's perfect. It's perfect.
Stephane Le Dore
Thank you, Chairwoman, honorable members. I would like to say hello to my friend and colleague, Isabelle Kadenek. We have been listening very carefully from the start, but we were cut off from the meeting room abruptly, and now we're back. Thank you for inviting us to present our experience. Let's move on to the next slide.
Housing, or sustainable, affordable housing, is a priority in the European Union. It is a priority for us. We have over 32% of second homes in our region. We have one main home and one second home. We're looking to move to a state of play where we have two main homes for one second home, not because we reject tourism, but because we need housing for young workers and families in our region.
We have over 2,000 furnished accommodations for tourists. That's an increase of 49% between 2021 and 2023. Is this a part of the impact of COVID? Who knows? But our region has become more attractive.
We have two furnished dwellings for tourists for one public or social rental accommodation. We have seen another trend since the end of COVID. We've seen a 56% increase in the average price of housing. It makes it very difficult for local inhabitants to find affordable, decent housing. Next slide.
We listen very carefully to your proposals on affordable housing. This is very much in line with our housing plan to be rolled out over the next 6 years. We want over 1,000 affordable houses in our region. We are also looking at other initiatives to make affordable housing available on the market, to look at renovation financial support to those buying up old houses to renovate them. We're also going to launch initiatives against the underuse of housing.
If you have an elderly person living alone in a larger house, they may struggle to move elsewhere, but they might be able to rent out part of their home or share their home, and that can make it possible to find housing for more young people, for example. We're also looking to regulate second homes through tax schemes. You may say that is a very French approach, but it does work for the time being. We're also looking at the tourism impact. So we have tension between housing demand and tourism demand, and that is exacerbated by shoreline retreat.
We'll see that, in the next slide, in our region of South Here, you have an overview of 12 municipalities in South Bigodan. It's a maritime community, 11 coastal communities, 100 kilometers of coastline, so it is very vulnerable. We're at the Southwest Tip of France, just below Brittany in the Finistère Department. Our region is hard hit by storm wave surges from the northwest and the southeast. In our region, we're called flatlands if you like, a little like The Netherlands because we have very low lying land with very little natural protection against sea flooding.
After the war, we saw polders built, and we have towns, urbanized regions, but it is very difficult to protect them. We'll see photos later, and you'll see houses that are close to dunes, very close to the coastline. Let's move on to the next slide. Here, you have a couple of images that give you a typical view of the Big Sudan region. You can see little of the wonderful region.
The mayor is beside me and is vice chair of our initiative. We can have heights of about 1 meter, so that's very low lying land, and that gives you an idea of how exposed we are. Move on to the next slide, please. Here, you can see the dangers we may experience. We have a world-renowned region for surfing here, but there is a risk: storm surges, strong tidal surges.
We've seen problems with erosion, and we have lost structures that traditionally protected us from these tidal surges. That is no longer the case. Next slide, please. So, what are the sea flooding risks? So here you have a map from 2016.
This is part of the coastal risk prevention plan. In blue, you have an idea of where the risk is concentrated towards the south. We have quantified the risks. We have over 4,600 homes affected by the coastal risk prevention plan. 2,000 are located in the red zone.
We have four water purification plants. In this protection zone, we have electricity supply stations or facilities. During storms, our region is very exposed. There are human risks here, and this is a risk that is exacerbating. We're seeing more frequent extreme events, and Big Oudan is one of the three regions of heightened risk, and so we have an action plan and a flood prevention plan.
This plan stipulates some 400 initiatives to mitigate the risk. Financing is provided through our grouping of municipalities with the central state funding and contributions from the Finisterre department. Here, we will focus on initiatives taken in Treflagat. That's the red part that you can see on the map. Move on to the next slide. Here, you can see Lu'An in Trefiergat.
You have the low regions flooded. They were reclaimed from the sea, used for farming, and then you saw urban development to the west. There is a protection, a series of dunes that are now weakened, and we had stone wall protections that were built and extended in 2023. But we're seeing coastal erosion. The dunes are being attacked, and so we face problems.
But, we are taking initiative, and that is protecting some 360 homes and a water purification plant. Next slide, please. If you click on that, you will start a short video clip showing where we are. So you can see homes on the right, and you can see the bulwarks that have been built up using stone and rock. You can see that we're still very exposed.
When the sea surges inland, it gets as far as the rock wall protection, the dunes, and as far as the houses immediately behind that. However, you can see that this is a beautiful region, and that is precisely why so many people are keen to set up home here, to work here or to spend their holidays. You can see the bulwarks, the stone rubble that was placed. That did buy us some time, but it does tend to eventually erode. Next slide, please.
So, we have a strategy to protect the risk zone in Trafayagat that has been approved by the state. We are looking to reintroduce nature. We are buying up also the homes that are at greatest risk of flooding, and those seven homes that you have in red on the map will be targeted. We're also looking at Hinterland, dikes closer to the homes. We're trying to use the tidal range to our advantage.
We're also looking at whether it would be feasible to clear the rock for fill and try to restore nature, natural protection against tidal wave surges. Because, when the waves hit the rock fill, that tends to carry the sand away from it and erode the beach. So this is because of the power of the waves hitting the rocks. We're looking at costs of around €6,000,000 here. Half will be to buy up and tear down the seven houses.
Next slide, please. Here, you can see a level of 4.38 of general leveling of France. These were homes deemed to be impossible to protect long-term. We're working with the homeowners. They have all agreed to sell their homes to us.
The total cost will be some EUR 3,256,000 with some of those costs borne by our municipality. Next slide. So this is something that is being done on a voluntary basis. We have reached out to the homeowners. It wasn't easy.
We had to spend a lot of time listening to and talking to these homeowners to explain to them that we couldn't protect them in the medium- and long-term. This was the most suitable legal solution to help them build a home elsewhere in the region. It was heartbreaking for the families who had raised their families there. They had to sell off their homes. They had homes in an idyllic setting.
It took a lot of effort and time to convince them, but they have all understood that this was the best solution, the best way of managing the risks we face. So there you have it. That's my presentation.
Irene Tinagli
Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Very interesting. So now we open the floor for questions.
And I start with Isabela Kallinek for thank.
Isabelle Le Callennec
You, chair. Thank you for these cases. Britain, French, Spanish. I have a question. What do you expect from the European Union on this matter of preventing floods and shoreline retreat?
That's my first question. Secondly, we've heard from the examples that there are some solutions that are nature-based solutions to preserve, and also prevent the floods. But when it comes to shoreline retreat, there's a solution that the mayor from Pompei mentioned, which has to do with resettling residents and buying back the housing. So we voluntarily resettle these residents that are in these areas that are at risk of flooding, rather than trying to protect at any cost. So what I was wondering in these cases is whether this approach is possible.
We don't protect at any cost, but rather we resettle when we look at the risks that you've spoken about, the risks to the household and the families that are concerned. There's also something that I'd like to bring up for the task force here today. After this hearing, maybe we could have some information, comments on what is happening in the various member states that are affected, and we could have an exchange of best practices. And then I have a question for Mister Ledoire. How have you calculated the price for these houses?
Irene Tinagli
Thank you very much. Now give the floor to Sandra Gomez for SND. Thank you, Chera. I'm going to speak Spanish.
Sandra Gómez López
Thank you very much to all involved. If I may, I would like to address the Spanish expert, put an important question to him. I come from Valencia. It is along the Mediterranean coastline. In your report and in the presentations, it is clear that we're talking about present risks, not future risks.
We see the effect of climate change on infrastructure, and we've seen lives lost as a result of climate change. We saw that in 2024. That made it crystal clear that we are seeing more extreme, more frequent weather events, and that makes it very difficult to ensure urban planning. Valencia is an emblematic example of the risks we face in coastal regions and river basins. 40% of the homes that were destroyed in 2024 were not even classified as being in vulnerable zones.
So we need to radically change our planning and development system. Now, despite the brutal and harsh lesson that we learned at that time, we're seeing continued construction in zones that are classified as flood zones. In recent months, we've seen construction projects approved in the region that was flooded in the incident I've mentioned. So we're not seeing any change, any lesson learned. We're seeing municipalities such as Bikania, their urban plans that allow construction in a flood zone.
So my question is the following. How can we here try to correct these regional autonomous community policies that affect Spanish citizens, we need to try to remedy the situation. We're talking about working-class communities. Inhabitants cannot cover the costs of the resettlement. It would be too expensive for them.
So we need to do something about prevention. We also need to consider our social responsibility and how we can help all these families resettle in safer regions. Thank you.
Irene Tinagli
Thank you very much. I also now give the floor to Alicia from SGNEL. Yes. So because we are running out of time, at least we collect all the questions together. Thank.
Speaker 11
you. I'm going to pick up on what my colleague has just said when it comes to prevention. It's a key factor. We've seen this. It's come up in every single presentation.
When it has to do with infrastructures, but also with the educational side because when you raise awareness on how to prevent damages from natural disasters, we can save many lives. And then, as always, I bring the island perspective on this to complement the diagnostics that Mr. Virgier has spoken about. My region is an island region. We have the climate change effects that we are severely feeling, and which should severely affect the sustainability of the coastal strip. And then the urban planning needs to ensure that new buildings are not built in these areas, a recurring issue in tourist areas, and in high risk areas that are also experiencing tourist development.
Then we also need to take into account the social dimension, especially in territories that have limited resources, which is the case for islands, and that have intense tourism. So my question is how can we take advantage of the current framework to practically implement policies that are accessible to residents, especially in island areas, to guarantee the preservation of the environment and that territory, but also the right to housing and the right to stay that these residents have.
Mr Roger.
So now we'll start with Mr. Roger.
Gerardo Roger Fernandez
Good afternoon again. Thank you for your questions. They are very pertinent. Sandra first on the measures that Europe can take to help or prevent construction in river basins, flood zones. We had that problem in Valencia.
We saw river flooding. What sort of measures could the EU consider? It could adopt specific directives to strengthen, require that preventive territorial plans that are gradually being adopted in Spain, that those plans should rule out any construction in river basin flood zones, that could hopefully prevent the type of appalling disaster we had in 2024. So we have plans, instruments, and regulations at the local and national level in Spain, but this would all be strengthened by rulings from Europe. We also need to look at affordable housing.
That was a point raised by Alicia, and I think that is vital. I attended another committee meeting last year, and I will always champion the right approach here. A lot is being done in Spain to have direct public intervention to ensure affordable housing, and I will always champion that. Some believe that affordable housing is housing that can be sold for around €200,000. No.
An affordable home is one that most workers could afford. Two thirds of all employees in Spain earn less than 2,500 a month. These individuals need reasonable homes, reasonably priced homes with reasonable rent of around 1,000 a month, no more. And that's only possible if you have some sort of public funding through the EIB, for example. That is vital.
You need this type of affordable housing in coastal zones, in particular. Coastal regions are very attractive. Many people want to move there. More and more people are looking to settle in coastal regions, and we're seeing gentrification. If you leave everything to market forces, then you will only have high-end homes in these coastal regions.
Working class people, low- and medium-income people will be driven out. So we need public housing policies that are truly effective. Take the bull by the horns and take action. And that is what we need: affordable housing. We need public housing stock available for rent. That is the case in Belgium and elsewhere.
That is vital. You need affordable housing, truly affordable housing in coastal regions available for around 400 to 600€ a month. That would help us stave off gentrification. I think that is really the direction that we need to take. Thank you.
Irene Tinagli
Now I, because we are running, sorry. We are running a little bit late. I give the floor to Mr. Ledore.
Stephane Le Dore
Thank you, madam chair. In response to the questions asked by Isabelle Koenig, first of all. Well, it's the government services, government departments, which came to value each house. They analyzed the property and defined the price based on that analysis. Now there was no discount at this stage because in the context of erosion, buying back for houses for erosion phenomena, then there was no discount.
But given that they were exposed to two different phenomena, erosion and flooding, and given that they're not the responsible ones for these phenomena, they were not required to take a haircut as it were on the price. And so we paid the price that the central government departments determined. In terms of challenges we encounter, well, there's a financial difficulty because the money we spend buying these houses, the money we'll be spending to protect as many people as possible, all that is money that we can't spend on other things. So for example, new homes at affordable prices. And I share my Spanish colleagues' point of view.
You know, we need to live all year round. We don't just live off tourism. And again, our main revenue has got to be $2.02 and a half thousand, €3,000 a month across the region, and we therefore need affordable housing. And then, therefore, there needs to be a degree of solidarity at local and at the European level in order to support local authorities who, ourselves, are on the front line. Now we're a peninsula.
We're sort of at the edge of Europe, if you like, and we're faced with a double challenge, a twin challenge, which is to find the money to invest and to protect our populations. There's gonna be a second challenge coming on top of that, and our Spanish colleague touched on it, which is getting used to risk. And so we need to prepare people's minds for the fact that fifty years ago is not the world now or in the future, and that the risk is getting greater. We need to be aware of that. In France, we have a further comp complexifying factor.
So we have a law governing the coastline, which is good. It's for our shoreline to be better protected, and we haven't had what they had in Valencia. We don't have, we could have been worse. We could have had more soil sealing, more building along the coast. But that law, that same law prevents us rebuilding things on higher land, which is better protected because the idea is that you have to break the urban sprawl.
That's the concept contained in the law. And therefore, we have this twin challenge of trying to meet the needs of people who wanna continue living where they live, manage the issue of second homes, and the fact that a lot of people want to retire to our area, it's a nice place to live. And all that together, plus this difficulty we have in rebuilding in areas which are slightly inland, which are not part of the urban continuity, plus the zero land take law in France. All that has meant that property prices have simply skyrocketed, and it's therefore difficult to produce enough housing to keep people in the area. And, of course, we want to keep young households in particular to keep our schools open and have a future for our region.
Those are the challenges we are facing. At some level, at some stage, a degree of European solidarity will be needed for these communities to have a future tomorrow. Thank you.
Irene Tinagli
Thank you. Thank you very much. Now I would give the floor to Professor Paula for last remarks. And
Anna Palla
Well, I don't have much to add. Just maybe one thing. A lot of things have been said. And to some extent, I just can only reiterate the import importance and the need for a map of risks and to take a multi risk approach to know the lie of the land and that and use that to support decision making. Again, we need to bear in mind or ensure that these multi risk mappings are updated regularly and that they bring together all the various effects of coastal flooding, river flooding, and the role of local populations who need, as has been said, to be involved, to be made more aware, and but in particular, to be associated with involved in those decisions taken by the local authorities.
One last point, and having talked about young people, maybe it'd be useful to talk about risk communication within schools, for example, outreach in that context. European Commission could support habitat and local policies whilst also determining replicable standardized criteria in order to map risks across areas so that those maps could be regularly updated and shared and compared across member states? Thank you.
Irene Tinagli
Very much. I really appreciated all the contributions. It's been very informative. And I think this also gives comprehensive understanding of the scale and the consequences of coastal flooding and shoreland retreat across Europe. And I think it also gives us important insights.
Now we are discussing in this committee about the importance of increasing the supply of housing, supporting more construction, because in certain areas, there is the need. But I think we need to be very careful when we adopt these kinds of strategy, also in thinking of the impact that have in certain areas, in certain equilibrium. So trying to balance the need for housing with the need for affordable housing, social sustainability, but also environmental sustainability, with the idea of building something that is long term, long lasting, and that can provide a sustainable answer. So I think that this gave us very interesting insights, and I want to thank all the participants, the experts, and the colleagues that joined us in this discussion. So thank you very much.
Okay, colleagues. I think we can start. So we have interpretation in seven languages, just to remind you. And then we start with the adoption of the agenda. If there are no objections, the draft agenda can be adopted without modifications.
Now I have two announcements, which relate to the written procedures and the follow-up to the invitations. If you have no comments, we can move to point five. Indeed, as communicated by the Secretariat, we will start with an exchange of views with Mrs. Le Kalinec on the work of the Petit network. So I don't see.
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