Louise Sallé // Photo credit: Arnaud Paillard / Hans Lucas / Hans Lucas via AFP
To increase the number of social housing units in Paris, the capital’s future local urban planning plan, which will be voted on at the end of 2024, targets several large buildings. The objective is to condition each extension project of these buildings to social housing construction objectives. The problem is that certain addresses targeted by the town hall are schools.
An incomprehensible decision. To increase the number of social housing units in Paris, the town hall is targeting several large buildings. The aim is to condition each project of extension of these buildings to objectives of construction of social housing. But the problem is that some addresses are private Catholic schools, which welcome students.
Seven educational establishments affected by the measure
For the places in question, they were stunned when they heard the news. Seven schools are in the sights of Paris town hall: a middle school in the 4th arrondissement, a school and a college in the 12th, and four high schools, including Saint-Michel de Picpus in the East and Saint-Michel des Batignolles in the North. Concretely, if one of its establishments has to carry out extension work, which happens regularly to adapt to standards, it will have to convert between 30 and 100% of this new surface area into social housing.
This is the scenario that is emerging if the draft local urban plan ever comes into force. This is a measure that is obviously incompatible with the reception of students, according to those mainly concerned. But to deprive a school of renovation would become very problematic. Catholic education in Paris hopes to make its voice heard to cancel all these constraints by participating in a public inquiry by Paris town hall, which will end on February 29.