Paris and its very expensive rents. Too ? The capital has been losing nearly 10,000 inhabitants a year for a decade, according to INSEE. The average price per m2 to purchase is around 10,000 euros and a 50 m2 rental costs 1,200 euros per month on average, according to the Observatory of rents in the Paris conurbation (Olap).
So, how to avoid such a flight and allow the lowest incomes (even the middle classes) to still live in the city? The municipality has set itself a target of 40% “public housing”, including 30% social housing and 10% intermediate housing, by 2035, thanks to the revision of the Local Urbanism Plan (PLU) and the creation of a real estate.
The objective of 25% social housing in the capital, set by the former socialist mayor Bertrand Delanoë in the early 2000s, is “almost achieved today”, welcomed PCF housing assistant Ian Brossat . At the beginning of 2021, the capital already had 24.8% of social housing financed and “we will reach 25% delivered in 2025”, he specifies.
“There are still unmet needs”, recognizes however the elected communist, despite this effort on the social park, and despite the decree awaiting publication which must give the City the competence to sanction the owners who do not respect the regulation of rents, or 31% of cases in the private sector, according to the Abbé-Pierre Foundation.
Ian Brossat therefore intends, in addition to increasing the total amount of social housing to 30% by 2030, to develop up to 10% “affordable” housing, that is to say 20% below the market price, for middle classes “.
A property company to transform buildings
It is thus counting on the current revision of the local urban plan (PLU) to insert an obligation to integrate a part of housing in any new construction, including offices. “The threshold has not yet been set, it will not necessarily be 30% on offices” as on new housing, an obligation in force since 2015, underlines Ian Brossat. But “every square meter built in Paris must allow us to make additional housing,” he insists.
Anne Hidalgo’s deputy also intends to launch a “social and affordable housing property company, specifically dedicated to the transformation of buildings”, whose role will be to “buy office buildings, aerial garages, hotels to convert them into buildings rental housing, either social or affordable.
The elected communist intends that this property, for which he has no budget at this stage, be “up and running from 2023”.