MPs agree on cross-party housing measures in budget

According to Socialist MP Inaki Echaniz, two key measures concerning private landlords and social housing are the subject of a compromise between parliamentarians from the parties Horizons, MoDem, Liot, Ensemble pour la République, the Socialist Party, the Communist Party and the Ecologists.

Faced with the "very important issue of housing," Horizons MP François Jolivet advocates "collective intervention" around "the closest possible position."

At the heart of the compromise is the "private landlord status," a tax advantage designed to encourage individuals to invest in housing for rental.

Generally dissatisfied with the amendment tabled by the government, the deputies are backing the proposal of former Housing Minister Valérie Létard, supplemented by the compensation for tenants proposed by François Jolivet.

This results in a tax depreciation of 3,5% of 80% of the value of the housing, capped at 10.000 euros per year and limited to two dwellings per household, provided that the rent is set below the ceiling for intermediate housing and that it is rented to households below a certain income level.

The other side concerns a levy on the income of social landlords, called the solidarity rent reduction (RLS), which the deputies want to see reduced to 700 million euros, compared to 1,4 billion euros in 2026, according to the calculations of the federation of social landlords, the Social Union for Housing.

Inaki Echaniz "argues that the first measure does not go without the second" and calls for "a commitment on the RLS before voting on the status of private landlords."

Several other measures have garnered favorable opinions from MPs mobilized on the housing issue, but their political groups' final votes are uncertain. These provisions modify housing taxation to prevent windfalls for some homeowners.

All these levers "would allow for a real first response to the housing crisis," argues Inaki Echaniz, who calls on the government to take this compromise into account as a whole.

The office of the Ministry of Urban Affairs and Housing, for its part, reiterates that the Prime Minister's wish is that "the compromise be built in Parliament."