buildings owned by the armed forces or central government and serving national defence purposes, apart from single living quarters or office buildings for the armed forces and other staff employed by national defence authorities.

for the construction of new buildings, the substantial conversion of existing buildings and for rental of accommodation for residential purposes.

Accordingly, the new Member States will have to decide the amount of ERDF Fund, which will be allocated to urban development, and in particular to the financing of old tenement buildings under conditions defined above.

B. whereas many European Union cities are experiencing great problems with housing, such as overabundant or insufficient supply, depending on the region or country, homelessness, soaring costs of purchase and maintenance and buildings in a bad state of repair; whereas poor maintenance often leads to the demolition of existing housing patrimony, which can give rise to new inequalities in terms of urban planning, in the absence of an integrated development strategy;

The eastward enlargement of the EU gave particular importance to a European strategy for the sustainable development of this type of housing; whilst, in western European countries, the future of large-scale estates lies mainly in the performance of social functions, the main task in eastern European states is the repair and modernisation of the stock of prefabricated buildings in order to make the flats in them fit to be rented out, while, at the same time, the structural change of the housing sector from state-regulated institutions allocating accommodation to private-sector or community-based enterprises operating on the market is onl ...[+++]y just beginning.

23. Encourages greater coordination of financial flows and policies affecting housing, in particular ensuring that the actions supported by the ERDF, the Jessica and Jeremie financial instruments, the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and the other Community, national, regional and local measures concerning housing and urban redevelopment are complementary, and specifically ensuring that residential buildings in historic city districts are modernised and renovated;