At the end of last week, city leaders from around 70 cities attended the first ever Eurocities Cities Social Summit to call for a new pact between all levels of EU government to reduce social inequalities, curb homelessness and unemployment growth and foster a just, sustainable and inclusive recovery. At the summit, Tallinn Deputy Mayor Betina Beškina confirmed that Tallinn supports the goals of the European Pillar of Social Rights and is committed to paying additional attention to the social services for the homeless in the coming years.

In her presentation, the Deputy Mayor Betina Beškina emphasised that in the Tallinn Development Strategy 2035+, the city has set itself goals of preventing social exclusion and promoting independent living with the help of flexible solutions. She emphasised that providing housing for those in need and an effective resocialization service is a definite priority for the city of Tallinn.

The Deputy Mayor also said that in the coming years, Tallinn is planning to contribute into investments to alleviate the housing problems of homeless and low-income citizens. "Financial resources for investments and supporting services have been planned in the Tallinn city budget for 2021-2025 to support the principles of Article 19 of the European Pillar of Social Rights "Housing and assistance to the homeless", which in Tallinn means investing in existing social and municipal houses and broadening the service of social housing, including supporting people with housing costs on the free market,” explained Beškina.

The summit emphasised that cities are important partners in implementing the European Pillar of Social Rights agenda and ensuring a fair, inclusive and sustainable recovery. “As city leaders, we have stepped up our responsibilities to implement social policy and guarantee public social investment over the past 12 months,” said Dario Nardella, President of Eurocities and Mayor of Florence. “But the recovery we now face will take bold actions and imagination.“

In their conclusions, the city leaders say that the EU social targets for 2030 should be matched by ambitious reforms and investments. More specifically, the aim was to hold an annual social summit with cities on the European Pillar of Social Rights, to raise the profile of social issues in the European Green Agreement and to increase investment in social welfare infrastructure, including social housing.

Dario Nardella presented the conclusions of the Cities Social Summit to EU leaders at the EU Social Summit in Porto on 7 May, reaffirming the commitment of cities to designing and implementing a new EU Social Agenda for inclusive, sustainable and sustainable recovery in Europe.

Eurocities is the largest and most influential organization uniting Europe's major cities, with more than 145 member cities. Tallinn has been a member of Eurocities since 1998 and was also a member of the organisation's board in 2018-2020.