Due to a lack of accommodation available year-round, the city of Saint-Tropez (Var) is emptying of its inhabitants. Nearly 30% of them have left the most chic of French seaside towns over the past fifteen years. In an attempt to combat this phenomenon, the municipality has decided to raise the housing tax on second homes by 60%, reports France Blue. The approximately 3.6 million euros in revenue generated should allow the city to finance the construction of housing.
The city had just over 6,000 inhabitants at the end of the 1960s, against 3,600 today, and 72% of its housing stock is used as second homes.