The real estate development company (FTI) announces that it has created more than 1.000 housing units from office buildings.

In total, FTI has launched 71 projects to transform obsolete office buildings which should result in the creation of 7.212 homes in the next two years, 69% of which will be social housing, according to figures presented Tuesday at a "transformation summit" organized by the company.

Among the latest completed projects is the rehabilitation in Strasbourg of the former regional chamber of accounts into a social residence of 57 student accommodations, carried out in partnership with Domial, a social landlord, also a subsidiary of Action Logement.

"This operation illustrates our land sobriety policy," which is to "respond to the dynamics of the territory without artificializing, by renovating and using existing buildings," explained Anne-Marie Jean, vice-president of the Strasbourg Eurometropolis in charge of the economy.

In France, 9 million cubic meters of office space are reportedly vacant, according to the French Office Consortium (CBF), with over 6 million cubic meters located in the Île-de-France region. The sector has been closely examining the challenge of transforming these spaces for years, and this issue appears increasingly urgent given the current housing crisis.

"Nearly two-thirds of vacant offices could be converted into housing, yet few are because the conversion is costly," stressed Yves Clément, vice-president of the board of directors.

Last March, the government presented a plan to support the conversion of offices into housing with the objective of "converting up to 25,000 homes in the short or medium term, aiming for up to 70,000 in the long term".

Two reports were submitted as part of this plan. The first identifies as one of the main obstacles the valuation of empty buildings in the accounts of their owners, which is "disconnected from reality" because it is based on future rents, which prevents the sale at a price adapted to the heavy work to be carried out, explained Xavier Lépine, president of the Institute for Real Estate and Land Savings.

Together with the report's co-author Nadia Bouyer, CEO of Action Logement Groupe, they propose tax measures to reduce costs, particularly for "office-to-housing conversion real estate companies," a new status to be created.

The second report, which focused on simplifying standards, advocates a "philosophy of reconditioning" which takes into account the change of use from office to housing, which does not currently exist because a building is today "either rehabilitated or new", explained Laurent Girometti, director general of the public development establishment EpaMarne/EpaFrance.