European-style affordable housing is invited to the HLM congress and is the subject of debate

In her opening speech on Tuesday, Emmanuelle Cosse, president of the Social Housing Union (USH), insisted on not merging social housing with other offers dedicated to the middle classes in a large affordable housing concept, and thus maintaining a model focused on housing for households with the lowest incomes.

While the following day, Bruno Arcadipane, president of the joint group Action Logement, whose mission is to house employees, described affordable housing as "essential," "even if the word doesn't please everyone."

Behind the semantic debate, there is above all a battle to capture future funds from the European plan currently being developed, scheduled for next year.

The USH fears that "the funding that Europe is going to put in place will be siphoned off by the production of affordable housing, which more or less corresponds to intermediate housing in France," Boris Petric, the legal director of the USH, explained to AFP.

Intermediate rental housing (LLI) is capped by the State at between 15% and 20% below private rental market prices and is aimed primarily at the middle classes.

The Federation of Social Housing Enterprises (ESH, of which Action Logement is a member) considers that intermediate housing "has always existed in social housing," according to the president of the federation, Valérie Fournier.

She does not want to separate "social housing on one side and other housing on the other side", but favors "the residential pathway" with households who could move from social housing to intermediate housing, to a first assisted property purchase.

Conversely, Michel Ménard, the president of the Federation of Public Housing Offices (FOPH), another family of social landlords, wants resources to be prioritized for social housing for households on the lowest incomes.

"Intermediate housing is useful, social housing is essential," he told AFP, pointing out that intermediate housing only meets the needs of the middle classes in high-demand areas.

In a 2020 report, the National Social Housing Control Authority (Ancols) estimated that "intermediate housing could meet the demand of 3,8% to 12,3% of households" who were waiting for social housing.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.