The housing crisis “should be the great national cause” in the coming years for Emmanuel Macron, said Medef President Geoffroy Roux de Bézieux on Sunday, stressing its importance in the household budget but also on work.
According to the president of the employers’ organization, which echoes the demands of many players in the sector, France lacks hundreds of thousands of new homes. On May 9, the government must present proposals resulting from the consultations of the National Council for Refoundation (CNR) to respond to the housing crisis: more than 4 million poorly housed, new buildings broken down, energy renovations too slow…
Several obstacles to new construction exist according to Mr. Roux de Bzieux, interviewed by LCI, RTL and Le Figaro in the program Le Grand Jury: first, access to credit by the rise in rates, a “recent” phenomenon and “cyclical” which “excludes almost half of the French”.
But also the constraints that weigh on the mayors wishing to build on their territory (complaints from the inhabitants, “lack of tax revenue”, “zero net artificialisation of the soil”, desire not to “densify habitat in the city center”).
The Medef for a relaxation of access to credit
Arguments already expressed by the CEO of Nexity, the leading French property developer, interviewed in the Sunday Journal. In the same newspaper, the president of the Association of mayors of France and mayor of Cannes David Lisnard also asks in a forum for a relaxation of access to credit and denounces “the deleterious effects” of the policy of zero net artificialisation of soils. According to the boss of the Medef, it would be necessary “to be able to exchange between municipalities and between regions” to deal with “contradictory injunctions”.
“We want to house the French, we want to preserve biodiversity, we don’t want to densify city centers, so a while ago, you have to get around the table“, he declared, claiming to support the proposal of senators aimed at facilitating for the municipalities the implementation of the objective of “zero net artificialisation of the soil” (ZAN) in 2050, provided for in the Climate law.
“We’re getting further and further away from our place of work (…), also has an impact on the quality of life and on absenteeism. This is why housing should be the great national cause, rather consensual, of the president in the years to come, “he added, excluding additional state spending.
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