Pextension but tightening of the zero-rate loan (PTZ) to promote home ownership, rental aid but end of the Pinel system… The government unveiled, on Sunday evening June 4, a series of technical provisions, without shock measures , in an attempt to stem the housing crisis.
This plan, drawn from the discussions of the National Council for Refoundation (CNR), a series of thematic consultations wanted by Emmanuel Macron, was to be announced Monday afternoon by Prime Minister Élisabeth Borne. Matignon unveiled the essentials on Sunday evening. On housing, expectations are huge and unanimous. The number of households waiting for social housing (2.42 million) has never been so high and the number of homeless people has climbed to 330,000.
Real estate professionals, associations, social landlords: the housing world as a whole showed the same impatience to see the executive act. Since the end of November, recognized personalities from the world of the sector have collected grievances and proposals on three subjects: “how to give back to the French people the power to live? “, “reconcile France with the production of new housing” and “make housing the vanguard of the ecological transition”.
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Five objectives set by the government
Three notebooks were submitted to the Minister Delegate for Cities and Housing, Olivier Klein, with nearly 200 proposals. The government has retained a series of technical provisions intended to respond to all aspects of the crisis, but without shock measures, such as the supervision of land prices, one of the strong proposals from the CNR.
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On sensitive subjects, such as the overhaul of the taxation of furnished tourist accommodation, accused of aggravating the crisis, major projects will also be “open”, assured Matignon. “It is not in one go that we solve the entire housing policy”, specified the entourage of Élisabeth Borne, ensuring to touch “a little on all the levers” and to act at the same time on the structural and cyclical aspects of this crisis.
On paper, the government has five objectives: to promote home ownership and rental, support the production and renovation of social housing, relaunch construction and amplify the energy renovation of the private sector.
The development of the “solidarity real lease” supported
To help households acquire their homes in a context of rising interest rates, the PTZ, which was to end at the end of 2023, will be extended until 2027. But the system will be refocused on “new collective housing” in areas tense, and in all housing (collective and individual) in relaxed areas subject to renovation.
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The measure caused the French Federation of Individual Home Builders (FFC) to react, for which, by removing the PTZ for new individual homes, the government means that the latter “is reserved for the richest, for an elite”. Another measure: the monthly payment for the revision of the wear rate will be extended until the end of 2023 in order to prevent this rate from “becoming a blockage”.
The development of the “solidarity real lease”, which makes it possible to acquire cheaper housing without owning the land, will also be “supported”, assured Matignon by revising the resource ceilings upwards.
In order to promote access to rental, the government has chosen to stop the Pinel system at the end of 2024, deemed ineffective, to focus on “intermediate rental housing”, i.e. housing which, without being social, allows moderate rents. This system, reserved for tense areas, will be open to around a hundred additional municipalities, currently located in relaxed areas.
160 million euros dedicated to Housing First
The Visale guarantee, which makes it possible to obtain a rental deposit from Action Logement, will also be extended to “more than 2 million people” by 2027, against 1 million since 2018. An additional envelope of 160 million over five years will also be devoted to the Housing First system, which consists of providing permanent housing to people who are poorly housed.
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Measures have also been announced for social housing but still need to be the subject of a “pact” with social landlords. The objective is to help them renovate their housing stock, invest in the production of housing and support their own funds. To relaunch new construction, which is currently at a standstill, the government plans to have the Caisse des dépôts and Action Logement buy out 47,000 unsold homes from developers.
Finally, to accelerate the energy renovation of buildings, the MaPrimeRénov’ system will be reinforced. These measures will be financed in particular by the end of the Pinel device and the refocusing of the PTZ, said Matignon.
Professionals express concern
Even before Elisabeth Borne spoke, housing professionals did not hide their disappointment. “After seven months of work and more than 200 people at work, the FFB was waiting for an electric shock. It’s a disappointment! Almost none of the proposals made by the sector have been accepted, ”lambasted the president of the French Building Federation, Olivier Salleron, in a message to AFP. “These are scoops, patching, mending, the use of old devices that have more or less been successful,” added Loïc Cantin, president of Fnaim (National Federation of Real Estate).
For Pascal Boulanger, president of the Federation of Real Estate Developers (FPI), “the mountain gives birth to a mouse”. “There is no incentive for the mayors builders, there is no status of the private lessor, we program the stopping of Pinel when we need it, he shelled. All that for this ! »READ ALSO National Council for Refoundation: President Macron’s Bérézina
“I find it difficult to understand the link between the commitment they announce and measuring spoons, even extremely vague commitments”, underlined to AFP Emmanuelle Cosse, president of the Social Union for Habitat, who represents social landlords. The French Federation of Individual Home Builders (FFC) believes that by removing the PTZ for new homes the government means that the latter “is reserved for the richest, for an elite”.