“No roof, no job”. This sentence repeated by Laurent Barthelemy, the president of the seasonal branch of Umih (Union of trades and hotel industries) echoes a reality: before each summer, French people give up a seasonal job, for lack of housing. . “In 2022, the recruitment of seasonal workers fell by 30% and this, because out of 150,000 positions offered, only half have been filled”, explains the entourage of Olivier Dussopt, Minister of Labor and Olivia Grégoire, Minister in charge of tourism.
A situation which is certainly not only due to the lack of housing, but which is aggravated by this problem. It obviously has consequences for businesses that make a living from tourism, since for lack of manpower, they have to reduce their volume of activity. And this shortfall also affects the state, which therefore garners less tax revenue. To change the situation, Olivier Dussopt, and Olivia Grégoire, will present this Wednesday, a seasonal plan, which provides a roadmap for the period 2023-2025.
Employers’ System D
Admittedly, the problem is not new, but it has been further exacerbated in recent years with soaring rents in certain tourist areas due to the proliferation of Airbnb rentals which has contributed to a scarcity of accommodation available for rent. Some regions such as the Côte d’Azur, New Aquitaine, Pays-de-la-Loire and Brittany are bearing the full brunt of this situation and are struggling to attract seasonal workers. “Even in ski resorts, we are witnessing the reverse transhumance, people leaving the mountains for the plain, because the rents are too expensive,” notes Antoine Fatiga, CGT manager of seasonal workers in the Alps.
On job offers relating to the summer season, the mention “possible accommodation” is now frequent. And vocations for seasonal jobs being less numerous since the Covid-19 crisis, candidates can also compete and only opt for employers offering a roof with employment. To seduce candidates, some bosses use several veins: “They take rentals for their seasonal workers in campsites where they buy apartments to install them there. This represents a financial loss for them, but they have no choice if they want to ensure the season, ”explains Laurent Barthelemy. For their part, some municipalities are taking initiatives to contribute to the housing of workers. In the summer of 2022, the city of Lège-Cap-Ferret experimented with an area for seasonal workers on the site of the former Sables d’Or campsite. It accommodated more than 70 people. Another example: the City of La Baule-Escoublac, has set up the system “A seasonal worker from La Baule, I welcome him to my home”, to encourage owners to rent a room to a worker.
Tax exemption for owners
Interesting initiatives, but too disparate, hence the idea of the two ministers to type in all directions. “It’s about creating momentum,” says those around them. Therefore, from June a digital platform bringing together the rental offers available for seasonal workers in public, association and social parks will be created. The State will also open for rent this summer, 1,300 university and boarding school rooms, with the objective of offering 6,000 by 2025.
An existing tax provision will be extended and encouraged: thus, private owners renting their accommodation to seasonal workers are exempt from income tax for the proceeds of this rental. This system will be provided at least until July 2024. Finally, social housing will be reserved primarily for young employees under 30 years of age. Currently, 2,090 dwellings are already approved, but the government would like to create 1,000 new ones by 2025.
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Measures considered insufficient for Laurent Barthelemy: “Student and high school student housing, there are sometimes very few in certain territories. And the tax exemptions for rentals to seasonal workers are small measures, because an owner will always prefer to rent more expensively to a tourist and pay taxes on this sum, than to offer his accommodation at low prices to seasonal workers”. Same skepticism with Antoine Fatiga: “On this file, announcements have been made by many ministers, but we have never seen the color of it on the ground”.
They plead for other devices: “The State should authorize more widely the assembly of ephemeral villages with mobile homes. Because for the time being, the Littoral law is a brake on this, due to regulatory constraints, ”says Laurent Barthelemy. However, the experiment has already taken place in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region where movable modular housing has been set up. For his part, Antoine Fatiga is in favor of social housing quotas systematically reserved for seasonal workers. “And the annual rental period for Airbnbs should be further reduced,” he believes. Because today, it is forbidden to rent your main residence for more than 120 days a year (4 months). And not all municipalities have put in place restrictions concerning the possibilities of tourist rental of second homes…