Esch-sur-Alzette passes a tax of up to EUR 10,000 a year on empty homes
Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg's second-largest city, approved a municipal tax on empty homes at its council meeting on 23 October 2026.
Source: L'essentiel129 stories from 23 countries, newest edition first. Stories leave the globe after eight weeks. They stay here, with a link to every source.
Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg's second-largest city, approved a municipal tax on empty homes at its council meeting on 23 October 2026.
Source: L'essentielVitoria-Gasteiz's government agreed on 15 October 2026 with the Elkarrekin group to pass an ordinance allowing empty ground-floor commercial premises and live-work units to be converted into homes.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Vitoria-GasteizPuglia's regional council approved a law, reported on 20 October 2026, that lets provincial capitals and 34 high-tourism municipalities designate zones where they set limits on short-term rentals.
Source: Stato QuotidianoSpain's Council of Ministers approved a decree-law on 20 October 2026 creating two special forms of temporary incapacity: for women with incapacitating menopause-related conditions, and for women unable to work because of injuries from gender violence.
Source: La MoncloaThe Bundestag adopted the Frühstartrente on 16 October 2026.
Source: Deutscher BundestagThe National Assembly's finance committee adopted an amendment on 8 October 2026, during its review of the 2027 budget bill, creating an annual 2 percent tax on the net value of investment securities ("titres de placement") held by family holding companies.
Source: LCPSwitzerland's Federal Council decided on 14 October 2026 to add youth-protection duties to its draft law on communication platforms and search engines, after a consultation that drew 214 responses.
Source: Swiss Federal CouncilBrazil's Senate approved constitutional amendment PEC 221/2019 on 14 October 2026, and Congress promulgated it on 16 October in a solemn session attended by the President.
Source: Rádio SenadoAt a Cabinet meeting on 20 October 2026, President Lee Jae-myung called for a "supply blitz" that shortens the time from site preparation through permits and approvals to groundbreaking, and for reform of any rule that slows supply.
Source: SBS NewsSeattle Mayor Katie Wilson said on 21 October 2026 that she will extend a homelessness strategy tested in Pioneer Square to the whole city.
Source: FOX 13 SeattleMinneapolis City Council passed an ordinance 7-6 on 1 October 2026 requiring a licensed human monitor in the driver's seat of every robotaxi.
Source: MPR NewsOn 15 October 2026, Barcelona's council provisionally approved a property-tax (IBI) surcharge on tourist flats: 50 percent for owners with one licence, 100 percent for two or three, and 150 percent for four or more.
Source: Catalan NewsMexico City Mayor Clara Brugada said on 12 October 2026 that she will ask Sedatu, the federal urban development ministry, to change a draft metropolitan plan for the Valle de México, under public consultation until 22 November.
Source: ProcesoAn amendment to Switzerland's federal road signs ordinance took effect on 1 October 2026.
Source: Swiss Federal CouncilSwitzerland's Federal Council proposes amending the Energy Act so tenants and condominium owners can require their building's owner to install basic charging infrastructure: a power line to the parking space, a system to allocate electricity use and, where needed, load management.
Source: Swiss Federal CouncilNorway's government announced on 7 October 2026, in its proposed state budget for 2027, that it will replace application-based support for voluntary municipal mergers with three standard schemes.
Source: Government of NorwayThe Left (Die Linke), which won Berlin's state election on 20 September 2026 with 25.7 percent, agreed with the Greens and SPD on 17 October to recommend formal coalition talks.
Source: Berliner ZeitungSpain's opposition Partido Popular set out a ten-point economic package in a party note on 27 September 2026, led by a pledge to create the conditions for one million homes in four years.
Source: The ObjectiveThe council of El Puerto de Santa María, in Spain's Cádiz province, approved on 2 October 2026 a modification to its 2026 budget that makes more than 53 million euros available for projects.
Source: El MiraFrance's bill to widen municipal police powers has stalled since it passed the Senate on 10 February 2026 and the National Assembly's law committee on 29 April.
Source: Maire-infoFrance's 2027 budget bill, presented on 1 October 2026, asks local authorities to contribute about 5.5 billion euros, according to the government.
Source: Maire-infoBogotá's city council approved Mayor Carlos Fernando Galán's tax reform in its second and final debate on 28 September 2026, sending it to the mayor for sanction.
Source: NTN24The European Commission proposed the Affordable Housing Act on 9 September 2026.
Source: EUR-Lex, COM(2026) 599Alberto Núñez Feijóo, leader of Spain's opposition Partido Popular, presented a housing plan at an event in Madrid on 15 September 2026.
Source: Moncloa.comUpdated in the Oct 4, 2026 edition: Spain's PP sets out its one-million-homes plan, built on deemed approvals and help for young buyers →From 22 September 2026, Vienna allocates council and subsidised flats under a bonus-points system.
Source: City of ViennaFour Fratelli d'Italia councillors in Udine tabled a motion in September 2026 asking the mayor and executive to draft a municipal regulation supporting businesses hit by long-running public works.
Source: Friuli OggiVictoria's Liberal-National opposition has pledged to add five offences to the state's Adult Crime, Adult Time regime if it wins the November 2026 state election.
Source: ABC NewsOn 27 August 2026, Australia's opposition Coalition pledged to guarantee A$1.5 billion, 30 percent of its proposed A$5 billion Housing Infrastructure Fund, for regional, rural and remote areas.
Source: Liberal Party of AustraliaThe Sweden Democrats in Östhammar, Uppsala County, have proposed that the municipality stop receiving refugees from 2027, except people from nearby regions such as Ukrainians.
Source: SVT NyheterClaudio Sacchetto, a Fratelli d'Italia regional councillor in Piedmont, has presented a regional bill to fund municipalities where residents' neighbourhood watch groups are active.
Source: Cuneo24Asturias has begun applying its first "stressed residential market" zones, a rent-control tool in Spain's national Housing Law, including in parts of Gijón.
Source: miGijónSeoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon toured redevelopment sites in Yongsan District on 11 August 2026 to rebut the national government's claim that redevelopment does not increase the number of homes.
Source: The Kyunghyang ShinmunThe Riksdag approved "Tightened rules for young offenders" on 13 August, lowering the age of criminal responsibility from 15 to 14 for offences carrying a minimum four-year sentence — explicitly temporary, for a five-year trial with mandatory evaluation.
Source: NordiskPostMigration Minister Johan Forssell (Moderaterna) proposed keeping Sweden's newly-tightened eight-year residence requirement for citizenship while creating a second, faster five-year track for applicants judged exceptionally well integrated — criteria still undefined, to be developed with the security service.
Source: NordiskPostNorway appointed a ten-member expert committee, chaired by a business economist rather than an environmentalist, to assess whether development consuming natural land should be offset by restoring degraded ecosystems elsewhere.
Source: NordiskPostA poll of Bergen residents found 52% support banning short-term whole-property rentals in the city centre.
Source: NordiskPostFort Worth City Council unanimously approved a resolution initiating a 90-day data-centre construction moratorium, created an 11-member infrastructure commission, and adopted an ordinance requiring applicants to document grid-capacity approvals from Texas's utility regulator and grid operator — though the moratorium itself cannot take effect until February 2027, leaving developers a six-month window to beat the clock.
Source: Fort Worth ReportConservative leader Pierre Poilievre called for federal temporary fuel-tax relief to be extended a further ten months, through next summer, following his restructuring of the shadow cabinet into an "Affordability Team" built around cost-of-living messaging.
Source: CTV NewsKorea's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced a plan to supply more than 230,000 additional homes in the Seoul metropolitan area, about 120,000 by 2030, with the headline reform procedural: cutting the time from site selection to construction start from 68 months to 37 by streamlining permits, land compensation and relocation.
Source: The Korea TimesChile's new Ley de Seguridad Municipal came fully into force in August, substantially expanding what municipalities may do on crime prevention in a country where policing has been strongly centralised.
Source: Subsecretaría de Prevención del DelitoPresident Karol Nawrocki (PiS-aligned) vetoed a bill extending social-support programmes for Ukrainian refugees, arguing it "overly privileged foreigners," and submitted a counter-proposal conditioning social security and free healthcare on employment and an income-share contribution.
Source: Notes From PolandMeloni framed the final phase of the legislature before the 2027 election around reducing taxes on labour, incentives for stable employment, and ensuring wages keep pace with inflation — a deliberate pivot to pocketbook economics after the government's first parliamentary defeat, on electoral reform, in July.
Source: Stampa ParlamentoParis approved a steep escalation of its vacant-homes surcharge — up to 60% on taxable rental value — targeting roughly a hundred thousand vacant or under-occupied dwellings, contested terrain in a municipales campaign where the right has its best shot in 25 years at the Hôtel de Ville.
Source: Infobae EspañaFollowing Madrid's lead, PP-led Murcia will exclude anyone convicted or sanctioned for squatting or breaking-and-entering in the previous ten years from accessing protected housing, bundled with a deregulatory permitting reform building on Murcia's July Affordable Housing Decree.
Source: HispanidadSeoul passed a supplementary budget of nearly 3 trillion won (~£1.6bn) covering housing, AI education and public safety: housing vouchers extended to low-income university students, penalty points removed for families reapplying for public housing after marriage or childbirth, and "Senior Companion Stores" subsidising accessibility upgrades rather than mandating them.
Source: Korea JoongAng DailyNorth Rhine-Westphalia's CDU-led ministry struck a decade-long pact with Hagen, a struggling post-industrial city, to demolish surplus derelict housing, tackle slum-landlord "problem properties," pilot crime-prevention measures, and anchor regeneration around a new "Europacenter" — a bilateral ten-year contract rather than a competitive grant pot.
Source: MHKBD.NRWZurich's city ballot on 27 September includes a partial revision of the building and zoning ordinance for high-rises, put to voters with two variants, alongside an 80-million-franc transport-infrastructure credit — distinct from the BZO 2026 affordability package voted on in June.
Source: Stadt ZürichMilei announced a legislative blitz running at roughly ten bills a month, anchored by central-bank reform placing permanent limits on monetary emission.
Source: ÁmbitoThe Council of Ministers under Meloni approved a decree cutting diesel prices by 17 cents per litre through 24 August in response to price spikes; separately the coalition reached agreement on key points of electoral reform after a July defeat on preference votes.
Source: Governo ItalianoFrom 1 August, the Building Modernisation Act restores "technology freedom" in heating — property owners choose their own heating technology, unwinding the prescriptive heat-pump mandates of the previous government's Heizungsgesetz.
Source: BundesregierungLaw changes championed by the Moderate-led government took effect on 1 August, expanding criminal official liability (tjänstemannaansvar) — partially restoring a form of liability Sweden abolished in the 1970s — so serious dereliction by officials is prosecutable rather than merely disciplinary.
Source: ModeraternaThe two rivals for leadership of the French right presented a joint position on the 2026 budget, demanding spending cuts and warning PM Lecornu they will withhold support otherwise — building on their 13-bill "legislative pact of emergency." A case study in how a fractured centre-right in opposition converts budget arithmetic into leverage, with obvious parallels for the Conservatives' position in a hung-parliament scenario.
Source: Public SénatA newly launched citizens' initiative, "Cityentscheid — autoarm und lebenswert," is gathering signatures for a binding local vote to reduce car traffic in Frankfurt's centre, building on the 2018 Radentscheid cycling petition (~40,000 signatures).
Source: EntwicklungsstadtThe Dutch "Realisatiestimulans" went operational: municipalities register affordable homes whose construction starts in 2026 and receive €7,000 per unit, with first payouts this autumn — roughly €2.5bn to 2030 plus €900m reserved for vulnerable areas and council delivery capacity.
Source: RijksoverheidNine municipal "patti per la sicurezza urbana" — formal compacts between town halls and the state covering policing priorities, CCTV and coordination — were signed in L'Aquila province.
Source: AbruzzoNewsThe Tweede Kamer adopted a VVD proposal targeting misuse of the objection right: people who systematically file objections to delay building projects, or to extract payoffs from developers, could face substantial fines.
Source: VVDCDU general secretary Carsten Linnemann is pushing a second stage of welfare reform: ending the minijob tax exemption for benefit claimants, stricter exclusions, wider data-sharing on problem properties, and longer clawback periods, paired with raising the top income-tax threshold to €80,000+.
Source: ZDFheuteThe Council of Ministers approved a bill on "security and prevention of youth hardship" plus police-force reorganisation, following an earlier decree against unlawful occupations and a bill shortening eviction timelines.
Source: Governo.itThe LDP signed off PM Takaichi's first Basic Policies for Economic and Fiscal Management: rebuild Japan's defence industrial base, mass-produce drones, and "transform Japan's defence posture within five years" toward autonomous capability, alongside targeted investment across 17 strategic sectors including AI and semiconductors.
Source: The Japan TimesAt the La Rural agricultural show, Milei announced reform of the Cabotage Law: foreign-flagged vessels could carry cargo and passengers between Argentine ports via temporary authorisations, crew-nationality rules would relax, and import tariffs would end on newer vessels — alongside further agricultural, capital-markets and pharmaceuticals deregulation.
Source: Filo NewsThe Danish government has opened the door to letting a share of a summer-house owner's income-tax revenue flow to the municipality where the holiday home sits, equalising revenue between countryside and city — welcomed by a rural Venstre mayor, called "crazy" by a wealthy-suburb Conservative mayor.
Source: TV2Denver Mayor Mike Johnston unveiled a corridor plan linking neighbourhoods with transit and bike infrastructure while upzoning to add 20,000 homes along the routes — growth deliberately concentrated where the infrastructure goes.
Source: Circulate San DiegoFollowing Katowice's precedent, Kraków councillors submitted a resolution reclassifying developers' unsold apartments as business property — taxed at 34 zł/m² instead of 1.19 zł/m², roughly 30-fold.
Source: TVP KrakówThe CDU/SPD coalition committee agreed a fuller reform catalogue: €10bn of income-tax relief, a restructured top rate (45% above €250k, 47% above €280k), pension-commission recommendations by end-2026, and — most striking — statutory reporting obligations to state bodies abolished by default, surviving only if a ministry explicitly justifies them.
Source: ZDF heuteThe French Senate's centre-right majority passed the "Relance et décentralisation du logement" bill at first reading, amending the government's text toward private investment, mayoral power and slower energy-renovation deadlines.
Source: Banque des TerritoiresMilei's next reform package rewrites the central bank charter: a single mandate (preserving the currency's value), a ban on monetary financing of the deficit, and a US-style "shutdown" mechanism forcing the executive to restrict state operations when budget lines are exhausted.
Source: La NaciónUpdated in the Aug 6, 2026 edition: Milei's "10 bills a month" reform blitz: central bank reform and a "fiscal shackle" →Signed 11 July after passing the Senate 85–5 and House 358–32: the first major federal housing law in years, a $200m/year competitive grant programme rewarding localities that demonstrably increase housing supply, sunsetting after seven years, plus restrictions on institutional investors buying additional single-family homes.
Source: Bipartisan Policy CenterAhead of the municipales, Paris candidates are outbidding each other on security: Emmanuel Grégoire proposes 1,000 extra agents and mobile kiosks, while several right-leaning candidates demand lethal arming of the municipal police force created only in 2021, plus more officers and CCTV.
Source: Affiches ParisiennesAt Milan's Urban Security Forum, the mayors of Milan, Bologna, Rome, Bari and Perugia jointly proposed a national fund financing integrated projects networking schools, municipalities and the third sector to intervene before offences occur.
Source: Milano NotizieIn Hollands Kroon, the VVD amended the local budget to redirect €800,000 from reserves into extra staff specifically to speed up housing approvals; in Winterswijk, the council proposed permitting new homes near farmland without pesticide "spray zone" buffers, unblocking stalled projects.
Source: Hollands Kroon councilAt the Union of Polish Cities conference, city leaders demanded fresh consultations on a Left-sponsored bill creating a quasi-cadastral tax on third-and-subsequent residential properties.
Source: Portal SamorządowyIsabel Díaz Ayuso's PP regional government, with Vox support, passed a law counting an unborn child as a family member when calculating per-capita household income — so expectant families qualify earlier for grants, rent support and school-meal subsidies.
Source: Moncloa.comThe March 2026 Paris municipal elections are being fought on housing, mobility, security and cleanliness.
Source: Affiches ParisiennesA joint Onward/Centre for Policy Studies report (forewords by James Cleverly and Reform's London mayoral candidate) finds construction started on just 4,170 London homes in 2024/25 while population grew ~100,000, and claims up to 1.85m additional homes are deliverable with existing legal powers via two new Development Corporations, expanded homeowner rights and deregulation.
Source: OnwardMilei's legislative package for H2 2026 reforms the central bank's charter to replace its five objectives with a single mandate — preserving the currency's value — expressly banning unbacked money printing and Treasury financing, plus capital-markets law and insurance deregulation, framed as "shielding" the stabilisation before the 2027 election.
Source: InfobaeUpdated in the Jul 20, 2026 edition: Argentina: Milei moves to "lock in" his model — single-mandate central bank, fiscal "shutdown" rule →A bipartisan federal housing bill creating tools for localities: Regional Housing Planning Grants, an Innovation Fund rewarding localities that demonstrably improve housing outcomes, grants for pre-approved architectural designs making approvals near-automatic for standard designs, and a Whole-Home Repair programme.
Source: National League of CitiesUpdated in the Jul 20, 2026 edition: US: Bipartisan ROAD to Housing Act signed into law →Augusta approved a regeneration programme for its depopulating historic centre: reduced or waived building contributions, up to five years of property-tax relief, and support for heavy refurbishment and demolition-and-faithful-reconstruction — explicitly to bring residents back, not just restore façades.
Source: Augusta NewsSeoul (mayor Oh Se-hoon, People Power Party) published a citizen-facing digital guide of 60 policies for H2 2026: the transit transfer window doubles to two hours, Level 4 robotaxis launch in Sangam in November, housing vouchers extend to low-income students, and penalty points for families reapplying for public housing after marriage or childbirth are removed.
Source: Haps KoreaThe European Commission is preparing enlargement-reform proposals — "gradual integration" letting candidates taste membership benefits before full accession, plus beefed-up safeguards against democratic backsliding once inside, an explicit lesson from Orbán's Hungary.
Source: EuronewsCDU, CSU and SPD agreed a package of 34+ measures spanning tax, labour market, bureaucracy, pensions, housing and digitalisation.
Source: EuronewsUpdated in the Jul 20, 2026 edition: Germany: Merz coalition's reform package — €10bn tax cut, reporting duties abolished by default →VVD MP Claire Martens is bringing a private member's bill requiring, nationally, that municipal enforcement officers ("boa's") wear no visible religious symbols on duty — overriding the discretion Amsterdam, The Hague and Tilburg currently allow.
Source: BeveiligingNieuwsThe Moderates want "trygghetshyror" for new contracts: landlord and tenant negotiate the rent at move-in, then it tracks an index, paired with strict security-of-tenure rules — a careful, partial liberalisation of Sweden's rigid rent-regulation system.
Source: ModeraternaAhead of the 2026 municipal elections, LR's security platform calls for every commune above 10,000 people to have an armed, trained municipal police force backed by AI-assisted CCTV; a separate LR-backed "presumption of legitimate use" firearms bill has drawn ~250,000 petition signatures against it.
Source: L'EssorMurcia's regional government convened municipal technical staff to standardise how towns apply its new Affordable Housing Decree-Law, against the backdrop of the national €7bn State Housing Plan (60% central/40% regional funding, first €800m tranche released in July).
Source: Murcia HoyItaly's centre-right coalition tabled an amendment letting citizens who study or work away from their registered residence for 9+ months vote locally rather than travelling home — an idea long championed by the left.
Source: Il FoglioIn Buenos Aires province, a bill would rewrite the Organic Law of Municipalities; in the City of Buenos Aires, a bill would widen neighbourhood "Comunas'" powers over pavements, ramps, lighting and street furniture.
Source: Página/12Denmark's local-government association proposed a reworked language-education model focused on practical everyday and workplace language, cutting bureaucracy and extending access from 5 to 10 years.
Source: European Commission (Migration & Home Affairs)New proposals would tie federal infrastructure grants to municipalities reforming exclusionary single-family zoning.
Source: CalMattersFrom April 2026 Japan rolled out the "Childcare for All Children" scheme nationwide, scrapping the requirement that parents prove a work-based "need for childcare." Children aged 6 months–2 years can attend daycare up to 10 hours a month regardless of parental employment, paired with free standard childbirth and a ¥20,000-per-child payment.
Source: Japan TodayThe Bundestag held its first reading of a bill to modernise urban- and spatial-planning law, the next acceleration step after the 2025 "Bau-Turbo." It streamlines and digitises land-use approvals, declares housebuilding an "overriding public interest," and gives municipalities more power to act against derelict properties.
Source: Bundestag / BMWSBA housing bill presented to the Council of Ministers would give mayors a right to propose candidates and a veto over social-housing allocations, plus a third national urban-renewal programme worth €5bn.
Source: Public SénatUpdated in the Jul 20, 2026 edition: France: Senate passes housing bill giving mayors a veto over social-housing allocations →Spain's PSOE-led government is mobilising €7bn to expand public housing stock with permanently price-capped rentals (~€900/month) and a state price database.
Source: La MoncloaThe "Mayors for Housing" alliance of 16 major cities pushed housing onto the June European Council agenda, demanding reformed EU State Aid rules and a €300bn-a-year Affordable Housing Fund modelled on Next Generation EU.
Source: EurocitiesA European Commission workshop on municipal housing spotlighted Vienna, where 75%+ of households can access subsidised housing via Europe's largest municipal landlord, and Helsinki's Housing First approach to homelessness.
Source: European Commission (Housing)The Dutch government is pursuing offshore processing of asylum claims before applicants reach Europe, with Denmark, Malta and Sweden also examining the model and Albania a leading candidate host; the EU Parliament separately approved text enabling "return hubs" in third countries.
Source: The NationalStricter Swedish citizenship requirements — language and civics tests, longer residence, a self-support and "honest lifestyle" test — entered into force on 6 June.
Source: European Commission (Migration & Home Affairs)Denmark closed its National Integration Council from 1 June, consistent with its post-2019 "paradigm shift" reframing integration as individual responsibility rather than a state-managed process.
Source: European Commission (Migration & Home Affairs)Argentina's Senate stalled Milei's Ley Hojarasca — a bill to repeal or rewrite 59 obsolete laws — after centre-right Radical senators sought last-minute revisions, tangled with a fight over judicial appointments.
Source: Rio TimesThe Conservatives' Alternative King's Speech includes commitments to scrap Stamp Duty Land Tax and repeal the inheritance-tax change on agricultural property.
Source: ConservativesAs Italy's 2026 local elections concluded and the 2027 Milan race opened, centre-right candidates converged on public safety, "urban decorum," maintenance, green space and cleanliness; Forza Italia's Pietro Tatarella launched a Milan mayoral bid on that platform.
Source: Il Politico WebTokyo is standing up a roughly ¥20bn public-private housing fund (¥10bn city + matched private), including a "Childcare Support Fund" and "Single-Parent Support Fund," explicitly to link housing support to reversing the falling birth-rate.
Source: Japan Luxury Realty"Missing middle" housing (duplexes, triplexes, ADUs) is going mainstream on 2026 US city/county agendas.
Source: Better Cities ProjectA CDU local politician floated giving Bürgergeld recipients the Deutschlandticket transit pass as an in-kind benefit, with a corresponding cut to the cash element, alongside a wider CDU push on municipal finance including shared council back-office services.
Source: Bürgergeld.orgThe centre-right European People's Party, now the decisive bloc in the European Parliament, has used its leverage to scale back EU corporate sustainability-reporting and supply-chain due-diligence rules while keeping the headline 2040 emissions target.
Source: EunewsAfter mid-June reform talks with employers and unions at the Chancellery, Friedrich Merz's CDU/CSU is advancing plans to abolish the Bürgergeld welfare system and replace it with a 'Neue Grundsicherung' built on stricter conditionality (Fördern und Fordern, 'support and demand'), cut electricity tax and grid charges, and introduce an 'Aktivrente' giving pensioners tax-advantaged earnings if they keep working.
Source: CDUItaly's second 'Security Decree', backed by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, lets police detain protesters for up to 12 hours without charge, broadens self-defence claims, bans carrying knives and other sharp objects, and bars people convicted of certain offences from public gatherings — 32 security provisions in all.
Source: BloombergSweden's parliament has backed legislation allowing authorities to revoke residency permits on broad 'bad behaviour' grounds and obliging most public-sector workers to report people suspected of being undocumented.
Source: AFP / Artsakh NewsThe Dutch coalition of D66, VVD and CDA is set to present a nitrogen package creating one-kilometre 'low-nitrogen zones' around protected nature areas, requiring farmers to cut emissions 42-46% and industry and mobility 50%.
Source: DutchNewsConservative leader Pierre Poilievre is campaigning to cut municipal development charges on new home construction, arguing the levies act as a hidden tax that inflates house prices and chokes supply, as part of a broader housing-and-crime affordability message.
Source: CBCThe Madrid regional assembly, on the PP's absolute majority, has passed Law 2/2026 on Urgent Measures to Increase the Supply of Protected Housing.
Source: Gacetín MadridZurich's revised Building and Zoning Ordinance (BZO 2026), part of a municipal ballot package decided on 14 June, requires that 75% of the additional apartments permitted in upzoned areas be let at affordable rents, and gives the city new powers to require green space on private developments.
Source: NZZVienna's 2026 summer programme combines major transport and utility renewal with a public-realm push: 90 new cycling 'green arrows' at 67 intersections — letting cyclists proceed after stopping at a red light — alongside expanded cycle paths, new 'climate-friendly' squares and street greening across the city.
Source: Stadt WienThe South Korean city of Yeongcheon is rolling out 15 new and expanded measures across childbirth and childcare, welfare, housing, culture and health, including public rental-housing rent subsidies for young people and newlyweds aimed at cutting their housing costs.
Source: AsiaeFrom fiscal 2026, Japan is introducing a nationwide 'Childcare for All Children' system, delivered through municipalities, that gives even non-working households access to temporary and group childcare at a standard fee of around ¥300 per hour, alongside a one-time ¥20,000-per-child payment and pension-premium exemptions for some self-employed parents.
Source: UPITwo Pacific Northwest cities have advanced housing-supply reforms in early June: Portland, Oregon's council is weighing its RICAP 11 package of zoning-code simplifications, while Vancouver, Washington adopted a new comprehensive plan and updated zoning map on 1 June, planning for 38,000 new homes and 43,000 jobs by 2045.
Source: Portland.govSwiss voters went to the polls in June 2026 on a referendum proposal, backed by the right-wing Swiss People's Party (SVP), to cap the country's resident population at 10 million.
Source: U.S. News / ReutersA hardline migration reform package pushed by Chancellor Friedrich Merz's CDU/CSU has been put on hold in the Bundestag after coalition partner FDP moved to send the bill back to committee, with SPD support for the delay.
Source: Yahoo NewsCSU Bundestag group leader Alexander Hoffmann has outlined a package of state-modernisation reforms framed as a 'core modernisation' of government.
Source: Handelsblatt / CDU-CSU FraktionThe German federal government has passed a reform of its planning and building law (Baurecht) under the banner 'Wohnen hat Vorfahrt' ('Housing has right of way').
Source: Epoch TimesItaly's Fratelli d'Italia has relaunched its 'Stabilicum' proposal, an electoral law reform designed to lock in stable governing majorities and prevent the recurring 'technical governments' that have punctuated Italian politics.
Source: Il Tempo / FanpageAhead of Sweden's 2026 election, the Moderates and Sweden Democrats — with support from the Christian Democrats — are campaigning on the country's most restrictive migration platform to date.
Source: Valkoll 2026 / ModeraternaThe Sweden Democrats have proposed that care workers who commit rape against elderly people in their care should face life imprisonment, arguing that abuse of such a vulnerable group warrants the harshest available sentence.
Source: SverigedemokraternaPresident Javier Milei is negotiating with allied parties UCR and PRO on a package of electoral reforms, including a 'ley de lemas' list-linking system for legislative seats, scrapping mandatory primaries (PASO), and introducing a 'Ficha Limpia' clean-record requirement for candidates.
Source: Ámbito / InfobaeA think-tank proposal from Klub Jagielloński is reigniting debate over Poland's local government structure.
Source: Klub JagiellońskiAlongside debate over restructuring mayoral power, a separate project pending in Poland's Sejm would abolish the two-term limit currently applied to mayors, town mayors (wójt) and city presidents.
Source: Klub JagiellońskiMadrid's city council, led by mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida, is finalising a Municipal Strategic Plan (PEM) that would allow greater residential density across the city to address its housing shortage.
Source: Moncloa / Gacetín MadridBerlin's Senate has designated the 'Stadteingang West' site — a former Grunewald freight yard — as an area of exceptional urban-development significance, clearing the way for an estimated 2,400 to 2,800 new homes alongside social infrastructure, commerce and logistics space.
Source: Berlin.deThe council of Surrey, British Columbia has approved its 2026 policing priorities — focused on organised crime and extortion — marking the completion of the city's multi-year transition from RCMP policing to its own municipal Surrey Police Service.
Source: City of SurreyJapan's ruling coalition has approved its FY2026 tax reform, raising the tax-free income threshold from ¥1.6 million to ¥1.78 million and expanding deductions for buyers of pre-owned homes with mortgages.
Source: Japan Today / EY Japan