Overall definition and context of the topic
A key objective of the Europe 2020 strategy is to reduce the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by 20 million relative to 2010. Indeed the growing poverty and the corresponding inequality may strongly limit the economic development of cities. It may also generate costs amongst others through the potentially lost productivity, the increased probability of poor health and lower educational outcomes. The concentration of poverty in certain geographical areas, in other words the spatial segregation, may create an additional barrier for cities. A recent contribution is provided by the action plan from dedicated partnership of the Urban Agenda for the EU .
Relevance for and role of urban authorities:
Local authorities can play an important role in achieving the Europe 2020 target by introducing or strengthening local poverty alleviation policies also aligned with the national policies.
Prompts for urban authorities:
Poverty has direct links to unemployment or working in low-paid jobs, low income/pensions and inadequate social benefits, low educational attainment, poor health outcomes and health inequalities, poor housing quality, educational and spatial segregation, barriers to access to quality services, childcare and education and inefficient service delivery, high/rising level of household costs (e.g. food, utility, transportation expenses), the rise of single households/single parents, discrimination in different fields of life, and low level of participation in community and public life.
These factors tend to combine with others to create a vicious cycle of poverty that is structural and visibly concentrated spatially in many EU cities and neighbourhoods. This point is particularly important - poverty not only exacerbates social differences between people and groups; but also leads to significant effects on the way that cities define their spaces and zones. As poverty increases, so too does the risk of concentration of the urban poor in deprived areas, which are characterized by social, educational and spatial segregation, stigmatisation of a wider section of citizens, reduced mobility (incl. less access to public transport), limited access to credit, housing depravation and not only environmental degradation but reduced public spending on its prevention. In order to make a real impact on reducing urban poverty, the Commission’s desire is to see projects proposed that bring forth innovative and novel solutions, in particular regarding the fundamentals driving cyclic poverty in deprived areas. The Commission wants to see projects that deal with the interconnectedness of the major causal factors, combining people and place-based approaches in order to identify and implement sustainable solutions that seek to address long-term integration and break the circle of social and spatial isolation. These projects should respect the conditions set out in the Guidance on European Structural and Investment Funds 2014-2020, and in particular the Guidance for Member States on the use of European Structural and Investment Funds in tackling educational and spatial segregation and on the transition to community-based care. Projects might also tackle energy poverty (through e.g. buildings' insulation) and to reduce the (often higher and potentially increasing) vulnerabilities of low-income groups to climate change impacts (such as floods and heat waves) which can increase poverty or health issues.
Without being prescriptive in terms of the types of projects expected, cities are invited to consider in particular the following themes and issues:
- Social, educational and spatial segregation
- Energy poverty
- Child poverty
- Homelessness
- Food and nutrition security
- Low health status and deprivation in access to healthcare
- Regeneration of deprived urban areas and neighbourhoods
- Social integration of Roma people
- Access to social, health, educational and other services
Finally, as this is the second time that the topic of Urban Poverty is included in a UIA Call for Proposals, we would recommend that applicants look at those projects approved in the first Call for Proposals.