We Know What to do to Fight Poverty
Affordable housing and quality jobs will be at the heart of the anti-poverty conference hosted by IEP Bocconi and the European Commission on 9 October in Milan. A commentary by Sylvie Goulard
Turning the EU’s Anti-Poverty Strategy into Action
Sylvie Goulard, Vice President of IEP Bocconi, will deliver the opening remarks alongside Mario Nava, the European Commission’s Director-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion, at the conference “Anti-Poverty Strategy: Policies for an Effective Implementation”. Ahead of the event, she argues that the solutions to poverty are well understood — the challenge is to put them into practice.
9 October 2026, 10:00–17:00 | Bocconi University, Leonardo Del Vecchio Building, Room N01, Piazza Sraffa 13, Milan.
by Sylvie Goulard
For the past three years, every October ahead of the United Nations International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the Institute for European Policymaking at Bocconi (IEP) has brought together European policymakers, researchers, NGOs, and people with lived experience of poverty.
The event is designed and run in partnership with the European Commission (DG EMPL).
It has three goals :
To give a voice to those we hear too little from and talk about too little — a matter of justice, but also of making good use of people’s talents;
To show that Europe cannot be merely a matter of markets, competitiveness, and elites, but must remain a project for everyone;
To help find solutions through dialogue between citizens, who have real things to say, researchers who study poverty, and dedecision-makers
In 2026, the event will focus in particular on housing supply and quality jobs — two essential safeguards against poverty.
We chose the theme months ago, but current events have made it even more pressing.
In Spain, the housing crisis has just sparked an unprecedented wave of public mobilization. In Berlin, it weighed on the outcome of local elections.
Everywhere, the gentrification of cities is visible to the naked eye. Unless you look away, the reality of poor housing can be seen on the street.
For economists, however, the phenomenon is hard to measure, given the lack of reliable statistics on populations that are precarious by definition.
A recent study by five economists from various European and American universities, Extreme Poverty in Rich Countries: An Empirical Analysis of French Data, drew on figures from the Restos du Cœur, a charity that hands out free meals and food and records the profile of its beneficiaries. The cohort of 5.5 million beneficiaries is (sadly) exceptional.
The study finds:
A rise in the number of people in need: +37% over the period studied
An even sharper increase in people living on the street or without a proper home: +62%
Precarity among the young: children and teenagers make up 25% of those helped (far more than the elderly)
A need for transitional assistance, even though 14% of the people receiving support from Restos du Cœur have been coming for more than three years
A strong asymmetry between falling into and escaping poverty: falling into it depends heavily on economic conditions (inflation, unemployment) and is easier than getting out of it.
What are the solutions?
A social housing policy that provides a roof at an affordable cost
Quality jobs
With the adoption of an anti-poverty strategy in March 2026, the European Commission is tackling the problem, even though responsibilities in this area are more often local than European.
The challenge now is implementation.
IEP Bocconi does not express opinions of its own. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors. Any errors or omissions are the responsibility of the authors.
