Known for its exorbitant prices per m2 or for rental, the 7th arrondissement of Paris will welcome 254 social housing units at 10, rue Saint-Dominique! And this, in the former Ministry of Defense. Bought at a high price thanks to the “Duflot discount”, the building after transformation will also include a nursery, a gymnasium and a green space.
So, 22 m2 accommodation for 144 euros per month in this chic district, what does it look like? To believe the show apartment presented by the town hall of Paris, Wednesday, it is a renovated house with white walls and gray tiles with two large glass doors that open onto a balcony. In a separate room, there is a kitchen area and a bathroom.
The building is still under construction and will not welcome tenants until spring 2023. But the town hall’s plans help to imagine it. In the inner courtyard, almost at the height of this first-floor balcony, there will be a large green space. By taking the elevator, tenants will access the roof of the building, also converted into a green space, to contemplate a breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tower, on one side, and Montmartre on the other.
“This is not going to allow families to be kept”
If the project sells dreams, however, it is not unanimous. “The City of Paris makes the policy of the figure”, denounces Emmanuelle Dauvergne, deputy of Rachida Dati, mayor of the 7th, arguing that the city “announces a lot of social housing” but that that “does not meet the expectations of Parisians”. The elected representative is sorry that 80% of future housing will be small surfaces, type T1 or T2. “This is not what will allow families to be kept,” she explains.
However, they are not the result of political will but of “a constraint due to the structure of the building”, explains the director of construction Daniel Schneider. By transforming old offices into housing, it was necessary to keep the central corridor which does not allow the creation of family housing in one of the wings of the building. “We added a new staircase and balconies to give more domesticity to the building,” he says.
This operation, “the second largest operation that we have done after that of the old barracks of Reuilly [12e arrondissement] ”, According to the assistant in charge of housing, Ian Brossat, is a way for the city to rebalance the distribution of its social housing between the boroughs. Thus the 7th currently only has 4%. There his quota will increase considerably.
“An opportunity that we don’t have every morning”
This is part of Anne Hidalgo’s policy to bring the capital closer to the 25% of social housing that any French city is supposed to respect (SRU law). The transformation of the former ministry is therefore “an opportunity that we do not have every morning”, rejoices Ian Brossat. “The only land opportunities we have in Paris are at the SNCF wasteland, in neighborhoods that already have social housing,” explains the deputy. It is difficult to continue building housing without creating a ghetto. “
Under the first term of the elected Socialist, the number of social housing in Paris has increased by 63% between 2014 and 2020, according to the town hall. The last report of the Abbé-Pierre foundation dating from 2020 announces an increase in the number of social housing in Paris: 14% in 2002 against 22% in 2019.