In the Basque Country, companies are building housing for their employees

In Cambo-les-Bains (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), in an old renovated farmhouse, the kitchens still need to be installed before welcoming the new tenants before the summer. Between 15 and 20 people depending on needs will be able to stay in five apartments and a large shared space, specifies Peio Etxeleku, manager of the Agour cheese factory in Hélette.

For him, housing is a “most decisive attractiveness tool for recruiting”. His cheese factory, which employs seasonal workers for eight months of the year, faces recruitment problems "like everyone else" given the scarcity of rental goods and excessively high purchase prices.

Since the end of 2019, the price per square meter has increased by 35% in the Basque territory, according to Fnaim, and for rental, it has jumped by almost 4 euros in Biarritz between 2020 and 2022 (from 13,90 euros to 17,90 .XNUMX euros), according to the Ministry of Housing.

The government also authorized the implementation of rent controls in 24 municipalities at the end of last year.

Middle class penalized

"There are people who refused positions because they couldn't find accommodation or who left because it was too expensive. We have very few answers for the middle class which represents 80% of our workforce ", says Peio Etxeleku.

The rehabilitation of this house of almost 800 m2 on two levels required an investment of more than one million euros and three years of work. A much shorter deadline than for projects carried out by public authorities, according to him.

“I saw the inertia inherent in these large machines and I said to myself that as an entrepreneur, I could implement a solution much more quickly,” says Peio Etxeleku, also elected to the Basque Country urban community.

These apartments will be offered at rents 25 to 30% lower than the market price.

The manager is also carrying out, with ten other business leaders, two rehabilitation projects and the creation of 11 housing units, inland. A paltry number compared to the needs, he agrees, "but we want to test ourselves and see if it works well: the goal is that there will be 50, 100 or 200 companies in the long term doing this."

Evrard Willemaers, president of the Union of Metallurgical Industries and Trades (UIMM) of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques and the south of the Landes, also notes that "the shortage of housing can be a brake on attractiveness", in a territory where the unemployment rate is barely 5,7%.

“Para-hotel”

“We have to be collectively creative because we can’t just wait for the candidate to figure things out on their own, that doesn’t work anymore,” he says.

Especially since 32% of job offers offered in the Basque Country are temporary contracts, compared to 42% on permanent contracts, mainly in the industrial and construction sectors, according to the Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

In Anglet, In'li Sud Ouest, a subsidiary of Action Logement (the former 1% Logement, co-managed by employers and unions), offers another solution for temporary, seasonal, temporary workers or those in training.

A “para-hotel” program of 147 housing units will welcome its first tenants from spring 2025.

At the end of the summer, mobile employees or temporary workers will take over from seasonal workers. With an expected occupancy of at least 200 temporary tenants per year, the project aims to meet the needs of local businesses, including large employers such as Dassault Aviation.

Mikaël Loyer, general manager of In'li Sud Ouest, hopes that this “pilot project” will catch on. “We have a lot of things to invent to meet everyone’s expectations” in terms of housing.