The production of new social housing will be “at half mast” in 2023, Emmanuelle Cosse, president of the Social Union for Housing (USH) which represents social landlords, warned on Tuesday.
“As far as HLM production is concerned, it will be at half mast,” she declared one week before the USH congress, a major gathering of social landlords.
“The feedback we have (…) suggests to us that it will be a bad yearwhich will be lower than that of 2022 (…) which was a very bad year”, with 95,000 new social housing units authorized in mainland France, she warned.
In view of the USH congress, where three ministers are expected, Christophe Béchu (Ecological Transition), Patrice Vergriete (Housing) and Philippe Vigier (Overseas), “a certain impatience is still evident in the face of the indecision of the State, because in fact, it is very difficult to see a course taking shape,” criticized the former minister.
2.42 million households waiting for social housing
“The situation we are in today, this leaves us with the feeling of a real disinvestment of public power in housing policies, a disinvestment which is both material and ideological,” said Emmanuelle Cosse.
USH on Tuesday unveiled a study it commissioned on the need for new housing. According to this study, between 2024 and 2040, 518,000 new housing units should be created per yearincluding 198,000 social housing units, to respond to demographic changes and reduce poor housing.
2.42 million households were waiting for social housing at the end of 2022, including 1.63 million not already housed in social housing, a figure which has never been so high.
Since the end of 2022, there has been no national target for the production of social housing, the previous one (250,000 in 2021 and 2022 combined) having been largely missed.
According to a prospective study by the Banque des Territoires, a subsidiary of the Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations (CDC), social landlords, caught up in their renovation obligations, will be able to create much less housing in the coming decades.