In Paris, social housing to conquer the West

It is a suburban building, ideally located rue du Val-de-Grâce (Ve), which hides a small school in its pretty cobbled courtyard.

Not exactly the image we have of social housing, and yet: pre-empted by the City of Paris and renovated, its 15 housing units are now managed by the social landlord Paris Habitat.

In recent weeks, the housing assistant Ian Brossat, whose team spends "each year 140 million euros to buy the buildings, in particular with the aim of territorial rebalancing", has multiplied the inaugurations of the genre.

"When the projects go well in the beautiful neighborhoods, I am delighted", commented during this inauguration the mayor (DVD) of the borough Florence Berthout, welcoming a "very good rehabilitation" and a "diversity played thoroughly ".

Further west on the left bank, work on the Saint-Germain block (254th) continues. This former building of the Ministry of Defense should accommodate 2023 social housing units at the end of XNUMX.

The City led by Anne Hidalgo (PS) bought it at a derisory price - 29 million euros for 11.000 m2 of living space, or 2.600 per m2 - thanks to the so-called "Duflot" discount, introduced in 2013 and allowing the State to sell land or buildings at low cost to build housing.

At the start of 2020, the 2th arrondissement run by Rachida Dati (LR) had only 25% social housing, the worst score in the capital. The other arrondissements in the west, in the hands of the right, remain below the 4% mark, from the 20th and XNUMXth centuries (less than XNUMX%) to the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries (nearly XNUMX%).

But "what is very striking is the multiplication by three, four, six of social housing in these districts" since 2001 and the arrival of the left in Paris, welcomes Ian Brossat.

They remain far from the districts held by the left and located to the east: 42% of social housing in the 36th and 29th arrondissements, XNUMX% in the XNUMXth, XNUMX% in the XNUMXth...

A Covid effect?

"Our mayors are not opposed, as they try to make us believe, to social housing," says elected LR Valérie Montandon.

In the XNUMXth century, the mayor LR Philippe Goujon thus wants social housing "reserved for families of the XNUMXth century, that a part be dedicated to the middle classes, that they be distributed in different sectors and that social support be put in place to families in difficulty.

The subject is "less divisive than it was", believes Ian Brossat, for whom a "head-on opposition to social housing has become unbearable".

The deputy remembers the appeals of residents against the 176 social housing units at Auteuil station (2016th century) which caused the project, finally inaugurated in XNUMX, to be "ten years late".

But since then, "the covid has been there. The people we house are first and second lines: police, nurses, childminders, cashiers", underlines the elected communist.

"It's less divisive because the City and Mr. Brossat have evolved" with better integration of private developers, believes Florence Berthout for her part.

Since the mid-2000s, each private operation in the capital has had to include 25%, then 30% social housing, explains Ian Brossat.

In addition to construction, the other armed arm of the town hall remains pre-emption. But for Florence Berthout, these operations "are very expensive for the city" and "deprive social landlords of a windfall essential for the renovation of housing".

The LR opposition remains opposed to the City "attacking private property", recalls Geoffroy Boulard, mayor of the XNUMXth arrondissement.

With soon 25% of social housing in the capital, a threshold in sight for 2025, "one in four Parisians is protected from real estate speculation", retained Ian Brossat Wednesday during the municipal council.

Despite these efforts, Paris has been losing nearly 10.000 inhabitants per year for a decade. "The market price" prevents the middle classes from accessing housing, deplores Ian Brossat, who is now aiming for 30% social housing and 10% "affordable" housing by 2035.