LPoor housing, which affects nearly four million people, and the explosion in the number of homeless people (330,000 today, 2.3 times more than ten years ago) constitute the most visible manifestations of a housing crisis which does not only affect the poorest. The explosion in real estate prices (the price of old housing has tripled since 1998, according to the annual report of the Abbé Pierre Foundation) reinforces wealth inequalities at the same time as it weighs on purchasing power. households, who now devote more than a quarter of their budget to this constrained expense.
The crisis has an impact on businesses, which are struggling to recruit in areas where housing prices have reached levels that make them inaccessible to the middle classes. It contributes to the ecological crisis by pushing the latter towards ever more distant peri-urban spaces, at the cost of land artificialization and restricted automobility. Finally, it reinforces socio-spatial segregation, the deleterious effects of which on social cohesion and inequalities are measured every day.
THE “supply shock” announced by Gabriel Attal in his general policy speech to resolve this crisis, presented in a bill relating to the development of the supply of affordable housing soon to be submitted to Parliament, leaves one cautious to say the least. The promise had already been made by candidate Macron in 2017, but the measures adopted since then have produced the opposite effect.
The state drain on the revenues of social landlords, to the tune of 1.3 billion euros per year, has resulted in a collapse in HLM construction, falling below the threshold of one hundred thousand units per year since 2020 (compared to 126,000 in 2016). Combined with the rise in interest rates, this measure caused new production to plunge, which fell by 35% between 2017 and 2023. The government is thus stuck in an ineffective policy, remaining deaf to the questions and proposals of stakeholders. of the sector as well as to the analyzes of researchers.
Relaxation of constraints
The National Housing Refoundation Council (CNR), set up in September 2022, nevertheless made it possible to bring together actors with distant interests, from private developers to social landlords including associations for the defense of poorly housed people. The consultation resulted in the development of numerous proposals aimed at strengthening access for all to dignified, affordable and sustainable housing.
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