“The President of the Republic and the government have a problem with social housing,” denounces the general delegate of the Abbé Pierre foundation

“There are only savings that have been made, first on housing overall, and in particular on social housing since 2017. The President of the Republic and the government have a problem with housing and particularly with social housing”deplores Christophe Robert, general delegate of the Abbé Pierre foundation, after the announcement by the Minister of Housing, Patrice Vergriete, of the construction of 85,000 new social housing units, a figure that he himself considered insufficient given the scale of the crisis in the sector.

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He recalls that there was “a drain each year since 2017 on social landlords of around 1.6 billion euros. That is to say, the State has reduced its contribution of around 1.6 billion euros. And that ultimately hampers the production capacity of part of social housing.” In other words, for Chistophe Robert, “We wanted to save money on social housing. And that is something which, from our point of view, is not acceptable.”

Apply the SRU law

The budgetary effort was not made by the State according to him, which explains the lack of new construction of social housing: “The economic model means that if today the State, alongside local authorities, does not put its hand in its pocket, we will not be able to produce more than 70,000 social housing units per year and carry out the renovations which “impose to the tune of perhaps 110,000-120,000 housing units per year.” For Chistophe Robert, the question of State land and its management is essential: “Are we ready to reserve it and make it available for social housing, cheaper than the land market to produce social housing considering that there is a need for it?”

It is also imperative, he explains, to scrupulously enforce the law so that communities, and the elected officials who direct them, apply the SRU law which imposes a rate of social housing, instead of “prefer to pay” a fine : “It is the question of the role of the State, guarantor of solidarity and the application of laws. There are many places where this has made it possible to produce social housing in cities which did not want it. do. But there are others who resist, who even make it a political standard. When you run a red light, you get a fine. When you don’t apply the SRU law, the prefect who has the possibility must be able to replace failing mayors.”