By inaugurating this Thursday, the Saint-Germain block, in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, the socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo and her team took the opportunity to recall that “social diversity is one of the major challenges addressed by the municipality since 2014 , and even since 2001 under the previous mandate. With a small tackle in passing the government, “with which it is impossible to discuss any reduction on the land properties which belong to it in Paris intra muros”.
With 254 social housing units, a nursery, sports facilities and green spaces, the Saint-Germain block constitutes a strong symbol of the proactive policy of the socialist majority to build ever more housing accessible to the most modest households. “Today, we reach 25% social housing, compared to 13% in 2001,” recalls Anne Hidalgo. This allows 700,000 Parisians to stay in Paris intra muros.” But it also highlights the still strong disparities between the east and west of the capital.
Disparities still very significant
In the 7th arrondissement, stronghold of Rachida Dati (LR) since 2008, the rate of social housing, which peaks below 5%, is the lowest in the capital. And if the sale of the Saint-Germain block, the former Army headquarters moved in 2015 to Balard, was recorded during the presidential mandate of François Hollande, Ian Brossat, housing deputy at Paris town hall, remembers a “very very long standoff. The Department of Defense was not initially in the mood to cede the land to the City, and it dragged its feet. At the time, Emmanuelle Cosse, then Minister of Housing, worked particularly hard to reach this agreement.”
Not without difficulty, since he also remembers an amendment passed in the Senate, preventing assets dependent on the Ministry of the Armed Forces from being subject to the reduction. “It’s a part of the soap opera that ended well indeed,” he smiles. But the former UDI senator and elected official from the 7th district, [Yves Pozzo di Borgo] had managed to put a real thorn in our side.” A reason to no longer target the assets of the Ministry of the Armed Forces?
Very difficult discussions with the State since 2017
“The State is overall a very large land owner in Paris, and the Ministry of the Armed Forces in particular,” assures the Deputy for Housing. But we do not have a particular ministry in our sights. » Moreover, the two projects which saw the light of day at the Minimes barracks in the 3rd arrondissement and the one to come in the 16th arrondissement for the Exelmans barracks, did not require the same negotiations: they were already the property of the City of Paris, which housed soldiers there free of charge.
Likewise, the City, which does not intend to stop there, has announced three files, in the 2nd, 4th and 5th arrondissement, all owned by the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFIP), specifies the office of Ian Brossat , which she wants to propose to the Minister of Housing quickly. “I appeal to the former mayor of Dunkirk and new minister, Patrice Vergriete, who knows these subjects well. We are ready to support it on the subject of accessible housing, we also have turnkey projects in hand so that the State also contributes to the question of housing.” The opportunity also for Anne Hidalgo to affirm that since 2017 and Emmanuel Macron’s accession to power, “all files for the sale of State land in Paris have been blocked, with the government refusing any reduction altogether”.
Nevertheless, the mayor of the capital continues to display her objective of “40% of social and affordable housing in Paris in 2035”, focusing in particular on the new local urban plan (PLU), adopted in June and which should apply at the end of 2024-beginning of 2025. She also announced the creation in 2024 of a property fund for affordable housing, “so that the middle classes can rent 25% less than the market price”, a clause which will only concern 320 housing units per year initially. Finally, she welcomed the “first beneficial effects of rent control, the management of which has been taken over by the municipality” and a land account with 320 million euros for 2024, compared to 86 million in 2014. Thanks the property tax increase?