The mayors of Mulhouse and Saint-Denis will submit to the Minister of Housing on Monday the conclusions of their mission to better fight against substandard housing. They should be used to propose a bill in mid-November.
Published
Reading time :
1 minute
:quality(50)/2023/10/23/maxnewsworldfive706257-6536837f72eba058022386.jpg)
Between 400,000 and 420,000 private homes are considered potentially unworthy in mainland France and 100,000 overseas. More than a million people are affected: they live in housing “undermining human dignity”. Faced with this observation, the mayors of Mulhouse and Saint-Denis presented on Monday October 23 to the Minister of Housing the conclusions of their mission to strengthen the fight against substandard housing, in a report that France Inter was able to obtain. These conclusions should give rise to a bill in mid-November.*
Michèle Lutz and Mathieu Hanotin present 24 proposals with four main axes: amplifying the power of communities for more rapid interventions, facilitating the intervention of private housing stakeholders, improving support and protection for residents who are victims of substandard housing, and increase coercive measures against “ungentle owners” and slumlords.
Among the proposed measures, the two elected officials plan to “facilitate reporting” unworthy habitats to enable public authorities and private actors to act more quickly. The two city councilors also recommend “a faster expropriation” buildings which “endanger the health or safety of residents”.
Improving access to emergency accommodation
Mathieu Hanotin and Michèle Lutz also plan to “provide health inspectors and municipal police officers with the powers of judicial investigation into substandard housing” to improve the handling of reports. To avoid letting housing deteriorate, the report proposes improving the tax systems in place to “promote private investment in old degraded housing” and thus encourage the private sector to renovate these housing units.
Once substandard housing situations are identified, residents often find themselves stranded, without an emergency accommodation solution. The report therefore proposes improving access to emergency accommodation and setting up rehousing arrangements for these poorly housed people.