Housing must be the new "great national cause", according to the president of Medef

According to the president of the employers' organization, which echoes the demands of many players in the sector, France lacks hundreds of thousands of new homes.

On May 9, the government must present proposals resulting from the consultations of the National Council for Refoundation (CNR) to respond to the housing crisis: more than 4 million poorly housed people, new buildings broken down, energy renovations that are too slow...

Several obstacles to new construction exist according to Mr. Roux de Bézieux, interviewed by LCI, RTL and Le Figaro in the program Le Grand Jury: first, access to credit by rising rates, a "recent" phenomenon and "cyclical" which "excludes about half of the French".

But also the constraints that weigh on the mayors wishing to build on their territory (complaints from the inhabitants, "lack of tax revenue", "zero net artificialisation of the soil", desire not to "densify habitat in the city center").

Arguments already expressed by the CEO of Nexity, the leading French property developer, interviewed in the Sunday Journal. In the same newspaper, the president of the Association of mayors of France and mayor of Cannes David Lisnard also asks in a forum for a relaxation of access to credit and denounces "the deleterious effects" of the policy of zero net artificialisation of soils .

According to the boss of Medef, it would be necessary "to be able to exchange between municipalities and between regions" to deal with "contradictory injunctions".

"We want to house the French, we want to preserve biodiversity, we don't want to densify city centers, so there is a moment, we have to be able to get around the table," he said, affirming support the proposal of senators aimed at facilitating for municipalities the implementation of the objective of "zero net artificialisation of soils" (ZAN) in 2050, provided for in the Climate law.

"We are moving further and further away from our workplace (...), it also has an impact on the quality of life and on absenteeism. This is why housing should be the great national cause , rather consensual, of the president in the years to come", he added, excluding additional state expenditure.