CDC Habitat announces an investment plan for the production of 17.000 housing units

The subsidiary of the Caisse des dépôts (CDC) indicates in a press release that this plan, designed to "support the production of housing which is experiencing a significant slowdown", represents an investment of "more than three billion euros", including 500 million provided by the CDC.

Among these 17.000 new dwellings, 5.000 will be social housing and 12.000 intermediate housing (with controlled rents but higher than in social housing), specifies CDC Habitat.

According to the lessor, the plan includes both acquisitions of housing programs in progress and "overall operations or major projects being set up which may be the subject of partnerships between developers, promoters and CDC Habitat. ".

“With 203.600 collective housing and residences started this year, housing starts have reached their lowest level since 2016”, explains CDC Habitat in a press release which lists the reasons for this crisis: high land costs, increase in construction costs , rising interest rates.

At the end of April, the Minister Delegate for Housing, Olivier Klein, had given an overview of this support plan by affirming that the "Caisse (depots) will look everywhere on the national territory, rather in a tense zone obviously, with different actors of the real estate development" to build housing.

Olivier Klein was to present on May 9 the government's proposals resulting from the consultations of the National Council for Refoundation (CNR) on housing, but these announcements have been postponed.

Sector players are urging the government to act as new housing construction has been slowing down for several years, the energy renovation schedule is not advancing at the desired speed and more than four million French people are poorly housed.

Among the proposals of the CNR Logement, which AFP has obtained, several aim to simplify or make more effective tax aid and mechanisms, local authority decision-making mechanisms or support for vulnerable people.

But some of them would introduce major changes, such as the control of land prices or the establishment in certain areas of a minimum density for new constructions, in order to limit urban sprawl.