Overview of situation of the four TGs in relation to access to key social rights

• Author: Guio, A-C.; Marlier, E.; Frazer, H.
• Pages: 47-73

Feasibility Study for a Child Guarantee (FSCG) Final Report

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3. Overview of situation of the four TGs in relation to access to

key social rights73

This chapter presents the challenges facing the four TGs in relation to access to the five

key social rights under scrutiny (decent housing, free healthcare, adequate nutrition, free

ECEC, and free education), on the basis of available data and analyses (see ‘Annex to

Chapter 3’ for additional information on data quality and availability).

3.1 Housing

Housing inadequacies have been proven to have negative impacts, particularly on children,

that include for instance ill-health or accidents, low educational outcomes, lack of general

well-being (such as lack of light or space to play), and an increased risk of perpetuating

the intergenerational poverty cycle (with profou nd and longterm effects on chi ldren ’s

life chances). The causal relationship between housing problems and poor health

outcomes is difficult to establish, as many factors such as poverty and unemployment could

lead to similar outcomes. Nevertheless, evidence suggests that inadequate housing may

contribute to undermining positive development and perpetuates disadvantage from one

generation to another.74

This section provides an overview of children’s access to decent housing in the EU. It covers

different aspects of access to decent housing: housing deprivation, overcrowding, energy

poverty, and housing costs, for the total population of children and for the TGs available in

the EU-SILC. It also provides partial evidence on some of the TGs who are poorly covered

or not covered in the survey (homeless children, Roma children, children in institutions,

and undocumented children).

3.1.1 Severe housing deprivation

Severe housing deprivation is defined at the EU level as:

 living in an overcrowded household (see definition in Section 3.1.2); and also

 exhibiting at least one of the following housing deprivation measures (leaking

roof/damp walls/rot in windows, no bath/shower and no indoor toilet, or a dwelling

considered too dark).

The proportion of children suffering from severe housing deprivation is presented in Figure

3.1. It is particularly high in Romania (30%), Hungary (27%), Bulgaria (23%), and Latvia

(22%). Disparities are strongly marked, as shown by the much lower rates in Finland,

Cyprus, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Spain (around 1%).

Although severe housing deprivation plagues a massive proportion of the population in

eastern Member States, children in the rest of the EU are not spared. In Portugal, Austria,

Greece, and Italy, around 7-8% of children are affected by severe housing deprivation.

Figure 3.1 also presents the proportion of children suffering from severe housing

deprivation for each TG available in the survey75 and compares it with the total population

of children. Information on children’s limitations in daily activities is used as a proxy for

children’s disability.

73 This chapter draws heavily on the five FSCG Policy Papers, the four FSCG Target Group Discussion Papers,

and the discussions at the FSCG’s four fact-finding workshops. These papers in turn draw on the 28 FSCG

Country Reports. See ‘List of FSCG Experts, List of documents generated within the FSCG and References’.

74 Bartlett (1998).

75 See ‘Annex to Chapter 3’ on the limits of the EU-SILC, and Section 3.1.5 on TGs poorly or not covered in the

EU-SILC.

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In most Member States, suffering from income poverty, living in a single-adult household

or coming from a migrant background increases the risk of severe housing deprivation.

The correlation with children’s health limitations is less clear, and may be difficult to

establish due to small sample sizes and large confidence intervals.

Regarding the situation of children with a migrant background, a 2016 European

Commission report76 confirmed these figures by pointing out that migrants are often more

disadvantaged than the native-born population as regards to housing: ‘migrants are

generally vulnerable on the housing market, disproportionately dependent on private

rentals, more likely to be uni nformed of their rights and discriminated against. They al so

face greater obstacles to acc ess public housing or housing benefits and are more likely to

live in substandard and poorly connected accommodation, with less space available and at

a higher rental cost burden than the national average’.

Figure 3.1: Percentage of children who suffer from severe housing deprivation; EU-

28 Member States; all children and available TGs; 2017

Note: Figures based on a sample size lower than 50 observations are not presented. Member States are

classified according to the incidence for the total population of children.

Source: EU-SILC 2017, UDB version November 2018, own calculations.

76 European Commission (2016b).

0.0

10.0

20.0

30.0

40.0

50.0

60.0

FI CY NL IE ES UK MT LU SE DE FR CZ DK BE EE SI PT AT EL IT HR SK PL LT LV BGHU RO

All children (Severe) limitations in daily activities

Migrant background Single-adult household

Income poor