Housing crisis: rent arrears increase, evictions explode in 2024

Last year, 24.000 eviction notices were issued, compared to 12.825 in 2023, according to figures presented Thursday by the National Chamber of Justice Commissioners.

Régis Granier, vice-president of the National Chamber of Justice Commissioners, explains this increase by "a purge of cases blocked by Covid." Added to this is a "problem of purchasing power and the housing crisis," according to Benoît Santoire, president of the chamber.

These figures, published ten days before the end of the winter truce and the resumption of evictions, show "a very worrying and long-term trend," according to Manuel Domergue, director of studies at the Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged (formerly the Abbé Pierre Foundation).

"There is a catch-up from the Covid years, but also a deterioration in the situation of unpaid bills, linked both to a weakening of households at the time of Covid and especially to the inflation of the years 2021, 2022, 2023 and the great difficulty in paying all the bills," he recounted to AFP.

The "majority" of evictions concern social housing, according to Régis Granier.

This alarming increase in evictions should be put into perspective by taking into account other figures reported by judicial commissioners, formerly bailiffs, whose role is to enforce court decisions, particularly in the context of rent arrears proceedings.

In 2024, 171.000 payment orders were served on tenants, an 11% increase over one year, which is the first action after the opening of legal proceedings for unpaid rent by a landlord.

"Lack of tolerance"

And court decisions terminating a lease and ordering the tenant's eviction - "orders to vacate the premises" - increased by 9,3% over the year, to 81.000.

"There is an increase at all stages" of rent arrears proceedings, Manuel Domergue emphasizes, which is "even more worrying" for him, because it will "fuel the evictions of 2025 and 2026."

Other signs of these growing difficulties in making ends meet include a rise in the number of unpaid condominium charges, which affects one million owners and 800.000 condominiums in cash flow difficulties.

At the beginning of March, the National Energy Mediator reported that it had noted a fourth consecutive annual increase in the number of interventions for unpaid electricity and gas bills in 2024: 1,2 million interventions, or 24% more than in 2023.

According to the Court of Auditors, there were 19.023 evictions in the presence of law enforcement in France in 2023, a 17% increase over the previous year, a figure different from that taken into account by the justice commissioners.

This increased firmness is explained by "the instructions given to prefects to be firmer and the lack of tolerance for unpaid bills," according to Manuel Domergue, who is concerned that half of the evicted households end up staying in hotels while these accommodations are saturated.

The justice commissioners estimate that 10% to 15% of evicted households are rehoused, but point out that there are no official consolidated figures.

The justice commissioners are also warning about housing abandonment - the tenant has left without giving notice and sometimes without returning the keys - for which the number of official reports increased by 8% in 2024, to 5.350.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.