Far from being unanimous, Minister Jeanbrun called upon to act quickly in the face of the housing crisis

Spokesperson for the LR group in the National Assembly, Vincent Jeanbrun emerged in the media during the riots of summer 2023, following the death of Nahel Merzouk, a 17-year-old teenager killed by a bullet fired by a police officer.

Then mayor of L'Haÿ-les-Roses (Val-de-Marne), his home was attacked by a car ramming. His wife, who was present, was injured while fleeing with their two young children.

In June, he presented a "suburbs plan" with around twenty proposals, including security measures to combat crime. He also called for an end to "lifelong social housing."

Mr. Jeanbrun notably took up ideas from the former Minister of Housing Guillaume Kasbarian: excluding families of delinquents from social housing, prohibiting the payment of rent in cash, capping the share of social housing per municipality at 30% and setting a deadline for the sale of social housing to the private sector.

"False good ideas that demonstrate a lack of understanding of the needs of social housing," according to Inaki Echaniz, Socialist Party MP for Pyrénées-Atlantiques. And "ultra-liberal proposals" that would "further aggravate an already terrible housing crisis," according to Jacques Baudrier, PCF deputy in charge of housing at Paris City Hall, who is appalled by this appointment.

The National Housing Confederation (CNL), a tenants' rights association chaired by Lille elected official and communist Eddie Jacquemart, considers this appointment "a provocation for the entire sector."

The Val-de-Marne branch of the CNL adds that its "past orientations give rise to fears of the continuation of a policy serving investors rather than tenants and low-income families."

"Far from the stakes"

Not convinced by Vincent Jeanbrun's entry into government, Inaki Echaniz believes to AFP that "his positions on housing are far from the issues and the need for real actions and a real housing policy."

Housing, the largest item of expenditure for the French, is experiencing a crisis that is affecting all aspects of it: social housing, new construction, the private rental market, home ownership, and significant renovation needs.

On Monday on X, the new minister affirmed that there was "an urgent need to change the lives of French people living in our QPVs (priority neighborhoods, editor's note) and to address the housing crisis."

Housing stakeholders are above all hoping for rapid action: "There is no question of participating in yet another hearing!" grumbles the French Building Federation (FFB) on Linkedin.

She "asks the government of Sébastien Lecornu to immediately get to work on housing, construction and real estate issues in order to respond to the emergencies that have already been widely shared for months."

"Two years of waiting" for measures to facilitate the work of building tradespeople is "too much" and "discontent is growing," Jean-Christophe Repon, president of the Confederation of Crafts and Small Building Companies (Capeb), also laments to AFP.

The Social Housing Union (USH), which brings together social landlords, "is waiting for a mobilized and active minister to resolve a number of difficulties," its president, Emmanuelle Cosse, told AFP.

"The big unknown is the budget" and the new minister's "room for maneuver," she notes.

Good news welcomed by all: a fully-fledged ministry for housing, which was not the case in the first and very short-lived government of Sébastien Lecornu, who entrusted regional planning, decentralization and housing to Eric Woerth.

As for those involved in urban policy, Gilles Leproust, president of the association of elected officials for the City and Suburbs, "is not going to rush into anything, we are going to wait and see how the week goes."

To add insult to injury for a Housing Minister, an investigation was opened in 2024 into illegal taking of interest against Mr. Jeanbrun, suspected of having allocated housing belonging to an inter-municipal association to two of his colleagues. He had assured "the legality" of these allocations.