The Senate votes on a bill to combat "shack-building"

The text, put forward by several Republican senators, was approved in its first reading and is now being sent to the National Assembly, without any certainty as to whether it will be placed on the agenda.

He intends to tackle a phenomenon that "is progressing uncontrollably", "most often in high-risk areas", explained Senator Anne Ventalon, who is leading the initiative alongside many colleagues.

Described as "cabinization", a concept with vague legal outlines, it refers to the illegal placement of various constructions in areas where construction is prohibited, most often used as housing, in disregard, according to the senators, of agricultural, natural or forest areas.

"In some cases, this phenomenon reflects precarious situations that must be taken into account with humanity. But this cannot lead to accepting the permanent installation of illegal constructions," Anne Ventalon continued.

To combat this phenomenon, the Senate has therefore proposed to facilitate demolition measures.

Whereas currently the procedure involves, before any demolition, a formal notice by the mayors, compliance with a deadline for bringing into conformity and then authorization from the judge, the senators have created a parallel system not requiring the prior agreement of the judicial judge.

This faster procedure, in the hands of prefects or mayors, would be reserved for constructions in non-urban areas and when these present "a definite risk" to safety, health, sanitation, or when they constitute a "serious attack on the integrity of natural, agricultural or forest areas".

A third "emergency" procedure has also been created to allow demolition within seven days when illegal work is underway or construction has been completed for less than three days.

Housing Minister Vincent Jeanbrun welcomed the Senate's "willingness" to "move faster and stronger", but he judged that it was "a little too early" to legislate, preferring to observe whether local elected officials would take advantage of the current framework, already tightened last year in a previous law.

The left expressed its reservations, and even its opposition with regard to the communists and the ecologists, with Senator Yannick Jadot denouncing a text that would risk "marginalizing the most vulnerable", in particular because it does not impose "an obligation to rehouse families".