Representatives of EU countries and civil society met in Aviles (Spain) to further strengthen their commitment on combatting homelessness, two years after the adoption of the Lisbon Declaration.

Given the persistence - and increase - of homelessness throughout the EU, Member States and civil society organizations now gave a boost to their commitment to combatting homelessness and signed the Aviles Declaration on 13 September 2013.

By adopting the Aviles Declaration, governements and civil society expressed their will to be ambitious in the responses to homelessness on national  and local level, trough an integrated approach by fully respecting human rights.

The Member States strengthened their commitment to the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness as an essential instrument for moving forward together on this matter at European level and call on the European Commission to facilitate the adoption of a new work programme for the following period and ensure that the functioning of the Platform is included in the social, strategic agenda for the new European Commission.

Background

The Aviles Declaration build on the Lisbon Declaration of 2021,where signatories agreed to work towards the ending of homelessness by 2030 and launched the European platform on combatting homelessness.

Two years after its creation this Platform has taken decisive steps: stakeholders implemented a large range of policies to fight homelessness and many EU countries launched integrated strategies.