Lhe texts on housing are often difficult to read for the uninitiated, but it must be recognized that the explanatory memorandum of the new bill “relating to the development of the supply of affordable housing”, which will be debated in mid-June in Parliament, clearly gives its meaning.
The first sentence mentions the existence of a housing crisis “since 2022”. The second tells us: “The middle classes are increasingly faced with the difficulty of finding affordable housing close to their workplace, particularly in tense areas. »
You can continue reading: not a word on the explosion in the number of homeless people, families hosted by other families, those who are overcrowded or in unsanitary conditions, minimum wage workers who spend 40% of their income their rent, young employees unable to leave their parents’ home, students who are struggling…
70% of eligible households
This law does not display the ambition to tackle the structural crisis which, for several decades, has increased the cost of housing for all and condemns the most vulnerable to the street or poor housing. It targets the “middle classes”, a notion sufficiently vague for a majority of our fellow citizens to believe they are concerned.
The reality is that 70% of households have resources making them eligible for social housing, and that it is this type of housing that is needed by those for whom market rents have become unaffordable. Intermediate housing, which the government wants to develop, concerns people whose resources are above average: the taxable income ceiling for a couple with two children reaches 102,000 euros in Paris and the inner suburbs, the rent 1,400 euros for a 75 square meter accommodation.
I will be told that the text is not limited to intermediate housing. The explanatory memorandum rightly says: “We must therefore produce more: more free housing, more intermediate housing, more social housing, wherever our needs and our jobs are. » Yes, but that is not what will result from this law: if it is adopted as is, the fall in the production of social housing will increase.
Why did we move from 113,000 housing units financed in 2017 to only 82,000 in 2023 ? Since 2018, the State has taxed HLM organizations to the tune of 1.3 billion euros per year through a system modestly called “Solidarity rent reduction”, solidarity here consisting of making them finance the reduction in housing expenses. personalized housing assistance (APL) from the State.
You have 56.94% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.