with the end of the winter break, associations fear rising evictions due to inflation

The date is synonymous with concern for thousands of families. With the end of the winter break, Friday, March 31, associations fear a multiplication of evictions of tenants due to unpaid rent, inflation having undermined the budget of the most modest households.

From Saturday, it will again be possible to evict tenants from their accommodation, after five months of prohibition of this measure with exceptions. The associations fear that the number of evictions will start to rise again. “The increase in food and energy prices has really weakened households”alerted AFP to Christophe Robert, general delegate of the Abbé Pierre Foundation.

The Foundation warns of the first “very worrying signals”, citing a recent study by the Union sociale pour l’habitat. According to this document, “almost half” of HLM organizations registered in December “an increase of more than 10%” the number of households overdue with their rent payment by more than three months, compared to a year earlier.

“Some go without food” to be able to pay their rent

The poorest households “have a budget close to the euro”underlines with AFP Nathalie Latour, director general of the Federation of actors of solidarity. “Some people deprive themselves of food in order to be able to continue to pay their rent and keep their accommodation, as it is essential.”

Another subject of concern: the potential effect of the bill by Macronist deputy Guillaume Kasbarian, currently being examined at second reading in the National Assembly. It plans to toughen penalties against squatters and to speed up procedures in the event of unpaid rent. “The current mechanisms will no longer be able to work and things will go much faster”denounced to AFP Jean-Baptiste Eyraud, spokesperson for the association Right to Housing (DAL).

Contacted by AFP, the Ministry of Housing announces that it will “to bring together an Observatory of unpaid debts in April to analyze the dynamics”.