To save money, Eric Zemmour – if he is elected president – wants to tackle social housing, a park he considers “too important in France”.
According to the candidate of Reconquest! in the presidential election, France represents “40% of social housing in Europe” Its source? A 2020 OECD study, imperfect, as its campaign team itself recognizes in an article in Le Figaro.
These data exclude certain countries, such as Spain or the United Kingdom, the latter being a major provider of social housing. If we take the report of the European Housing Observatory, the most recent and most complete source, France’s share of the total social housing stock of the European countries for which this data is available, represents more than 40% – as Eric Zemmour asserts – but drops to 25.8%.
If Eric Zemmour wants fewer HLMs, it’s not just for the sake of economy. He wants to abolish the SRU law which imposes quotas of 25% social housing in towns with more than 3,500 inhabitants. According to him, this law “spreads the ravages of immigration in the smallest towns”, as he affirmed in our colleagues from Var Matin.
Except that in 2021, 80% of social housing beneficiaries are French households and 20% are foreigners, including 18% from outside Europe, all in a regular situation, according to INSEE. These figures have been stable for 20 years, the date of the creation of the SRU law, according to the Ministry of Ecological Transition, in charge of housing.
By removing this incentive, the risk is to put a stop to social housing projects. How then will the most modest French people find accommodation?
Find Our Sources:
– European Housing Observatory Report 2021
– Ministry of Ecological Transition – Housing statistics
– INSEE
– Social union for housing