“There are regions where in less than a year you have social housing and others where it takes two, three, even eight years to obtain social housing,” estimates Emmanuelle Cosse, president of the Union, on franceinfo. social for housing.
“This is unprecedented, we have never had so many applicants in France, the entire sector is seized up”, declared Tuesday October 3 on franceinfo Emmanuelle Cosse, president of the Social Union for Housing, while the number of social housing in France is not sufficient. At the end of 2022, 2.42 million households were waiting for social housing – including 1.63 million for a first allocation. The HLM congress takes place from Tuesday to Thursday in Nantes.
>> TESTIMONY. “I have only had one proposal in two years”: although priority, these deprived families facing the social housing crisis
franceinfo: How long does it take to obtain social housing?
Emmanuelle Cosse: Last year, there was a one in six chance of having an application filled within the year. There are regions where in less than a year you have social housing and others where it takes two, three, even eight years to obtain social housing. This is unbearable for the people who make this request. What is unprecedented is that we have never had so many applicants for social housing in France, and that we have never produced so little social housing.
How do you explain this lack of housing despite the SRU law (Solidarity and urban renewal) which imposes a rate of social housing on municipalities?
The SRU law, which required social housing to be available in many municipalities, has made it possible to build in quite a few towns, but it is not enough. Over the last five years, we have had less help to build. Seven years ago, the government had stronger demands and put resources on the table. From 2018, we had reduced resources and we were asked to build less housing. Since the Covid crisis, we have been much lower. It is not enough for the government to ask to build, there must be mobilization of prefects and local elected officials so that we can find the land, the projects and be able to carry them out. And today it is very difficult.
What does the government do ?
I have been calling for very strong mobilization for several years. We have reached a crisis which is reaching its climax because at the same time as there is a crisis in social housing, we have a crisis in access to private housing. The entire sector is seized up. We have been warning for months, asking for a start, a very strong response. I’m not saying that we don’t have support, but it is not up to the crisis and the unbearable wait.
Around 85,000 new social housing units will be built in 2023, indicated the Minister responsible for Housing Patrice Vergriete, who recognizes that this is “not enough” to resolve the housing crisis. What do you think ?
We can do 110,000 and that is one of the worst figures in the last 20 years. We have just carried out a study which shows that around 198,000 housing units would need to be produced each year, either new housing or housing in existing buildings. There, painfully, we will perhaps do 85,000 this year. It’s not much. There is a shortage of 40,000. We would have to remove at least 120,000 homes per year to find some breathing room. When housing does poorly, it quickly collapses and afterward, it takes years to return to an acceptable rate of housing production.
Has the 2024 budget reassured you?
Since 2018, the State has taken 1.3 billion from rent revenues from social landlords to reinject them into the State’s national budget. This is a crazy scandal. The 2024 budget does not reassure us. We have traditional aid to build housing, but it is not enough. There is no aid for the renovation and rehabilitation of social housing. Today, there is a need for grants and financial support to renovate social housing and additional support to build housing, including grants and reduced VAT rates. We have been experiencing declines in our sector for five years.