The city of Paris no longer wants coliving on its territory

The capital is the first city in France to take a stand on coliving, a new type of collaborative housing consisting of renting rooms, with shared spaces and services, at prices "often exorbitant", explained Ian Brossat, president of the communist group and senator, on Wednesday in the Paris Council.

According to the resolution adopted by the assembly, the city of Paris will now signal to private developers and operators its "refusal" of new projects to avoid the "anarchic development" of this model, in the midst of a housing crisis.

A non-binding refusal but one that "will be heard by the developers because they do not want to get on the wrong side of the city given the limited land available," Ian Brossat, also a candidate in the municipal elections, told AFP.

The city of Paris will also establish a team to monitor and evaluate existing co-living spaces. The Île-de-France region has 7.500 co-living beds, and 6.800 projects are underway in the capital, stated Barbara Gomes, in charge of rent control at the city hall, citing figures from the Paris Region Institute (IPR).

This booming model, which attracts many young professionals and students struggling to find accommodation, is in a "grey area, sometimes falling into the residential category, sometimes into the commercial space category", explains Barbara Gomes.

"All you have to do is put three rowing machines in a common room to apply a rent supplement that escapes regulation," notes the communist elected official, citing "rooms of 20 square meters that can be rented for up to 1.850 euros."

"As the city tightened the screws on Airbnb, some have turned to coliving, which allows for very high profitability," says Ian Brossat, who has submitted a bill to Parliament to define coliving.

"Coliving remains marginal, and it is a concrete response to a real demand. You want to ban what works," lamented Aurélien Véron (LR), from Rachida Dati's opposition group, during the debates.