MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd April, 2021) The European Commission and the Council of the EU are preparing for the June launch of the EU Collaboration Platform on Homelessness aimed at providing homeless people and their representative organizations with an opportunity to influence EU decisions on where to invest funds to tackle the issue, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit told Sputnik on Friday.
"We will ... launch together with the Portuguese Presidency of the Council in June a European platform to combat homelessness. The number of homeless people has increased and we want to address this situation," Schmit said.
In January, Portugal has taken over the rotating presidency of the Council from Germany. The new presidency has since been in charge of implementing the renewed EU Disability Strategy, Child Guarantee for Vulnerable Children and the EU Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan.
According to the commissioner, the recently presented European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan includes three main targets, on of which is to significantly reduce homelessness.
"One of those targets is to reduce the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU by at least 15 million by 2030. Out of this at least 5 million should be children," Schmit clarified.
Among other social initiatives presented by the Commission in the beginning of March was the Child Guarantee prompting member states to increase support for children growing up with a risk of poverty or social exclusion.
"These children are less likely to perform well in school, to be in good health, to find a decent job when they grow up, and more likely to remain socially excluded as adults, too. We want to break this cycle by guaranteeing free access to early childcare, quality education and cultural and sportive activities, healthcare as well as affordable housing and good nutrition," the commissioner stated.
He stressed that the EU had been making steady progress in meeting its poverty targets until the pandemic caused a major setback.
"Before the COVID-19 crisis we were making real progress on meeting our poverty reduction targets. The pandemic has stopped this positive trend. There is a new poverty risk for the most vulnerable or with atypical labor contracts," he said.
Reportedly, around 91 million people, out of which 17.9 million were children under 17 years old, were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU in 2019.
