Ile-de-France can produce tens of thousands of homes without artificialization, according to a report

Vacant housing and offices, brownfield sites, under-occupied residential areas...: the Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged, France Nature Environnement (FNE) and the Foundation for Nature and Man have identified the vast housing potential that the Ile-de-France region could mobilize while preserving its natural spaces.

According to their work, there is an "urgent need" for 570.000 housing units in the "most unequal region in France" in terms of income, which has 1,3 million people living in substandard housing. And where 25% of land is artificialized (compared to 9% in metropolitan France), which exacerbates the phenomenon of heat islands, drought, floods, and the collapse of biodiversity.

The Ile-de-France region is bound by the objective of "zero net artificialization" (ZAN) by 2050, but remains "free to set its own trajectory" in terms of combating the concreting of natural and agricultural spaces, the report notes.

"We must move away from easy urban planning, which consists of building on agricultural land. We need intricate urban planning to preserve a network of natural spaces that irrigate dense cities," argued Luc Blanchard, co-president of the FNE IDF, during a press conference.

The report considers it "possible" to produce an average of 70.000 housing units per year, mainly for social purposes, over ten years, which corresponds to the objective set by the 2010 Greater Paris law.

Some 112.000 vacant homes - out of 447.800 for more than two years according to INSEE - could, for example, be recovered, and 14.000 homes created by mobilizing 1,2 million square meters of empty offices.

The regulation of second homes and furnished tourist accommodation, through a tax on multiple owners, would allow 75.000 homes to be put back on the primary residence market.

The report also suggests redeveloping residential areas, which are largely under-occupied, by increasing their density but without affecting private gardens because they form "ecological corridors" with parks and forests, which are favorable to biodiversity, Luc Blanchard argued.

One solution would be to reclaim houses occupied by senior citizens, often too large for them, by finding them "more suitable" accommodation.

The vacated pavilions could then be raised by one level, allowing the installation of services on their ground floors and ultimately limiting car use.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.