Unafo and Unhaj welcome the granting of exceptional aid for supported housing

To cope with the impact of rising energy prices for managers of social residences and Habitat Jeunes residences, Unafo and Unhaj have been campaigning for more than a year for exceptional aid for the sector. After months of exchanges with the public authorities and a long circuit of signature, the decree was finally published in the Official Journal on July 21, 2023. It provides for the payment of exceptional aid of 192 euros per dwelling, under the year 2022. Unafo and Unhaj are delighted with this aid and call for the launch in the wake of a project on the economic model of social residences.

The particularity of supported accommodation and the "all charges included" fee

For more than a year, in the face of soaring energy prices, Unafo and Unhaj have been warning of the need to allocate exceptional aid, not to households already benefiting from the energy check, but to managers , often associative, only to actually have to assume the increase. In the model of the “all-inclusive” fee including housing-related charges on a flat-rate basis, without the possibility of modulation according to the reality of the bills, the residents were, in fact, protected from these massive increases. The unprecedented increase coupled with the inflationary context that we are experiencing is hitting the managers of supported accommodation hard (social residences, young workers' hostels, boarding houses, migrant worker hostels), even though the economic model of these residences is already fragile.

Exceptional help, a “breath of air” for managers

Despite the extension of the various tariff shields for the benefit of supported housing managers, their operational methods weigh on cash flow and the consequences of inflation end up putting the players in great difficulty, even questioning the sustainability of some.

In addition to the various shields, the Government has also deployed exceptional aid for the most modest households, by allocating a new "exceptional energy check" in 2022, enhancing the energy check already distributed to these households. Since the fall, Unafo and Unhaj have been campaigning for this “boost” to be distributed to managers of social residences, the only ones to assume the reality of price increases in this particular model.

If the principle was recorded since the beginning of the year, it took many months for this decree to be finally published. Unafo and Unhaj welcome this publication which will be able to give a temporary “breath of air” to managers. This decree provides for exceptional aid of 192 euros per accommodation for the managers of social residences, family pensions and reception residences, homes for migrant workers and homes for young workers.

A necessary and urgent project on the economic model

This energy crisis is weakening the economic model of social residences and making it urgently necessary to rethink it to ensure its sustainability, including in the short term. So that this exceptional aid is not just a "band-aid on a wooden leg", Unafo and Unhaj call for the rapid realization of the commitment made under the 2nd part of the Housing First plan. open a consultation on the economic model of social residences. This consultation and the actions that will result from it depend on the maintenance afloat of many players in supported housing who, everywhere in France, play an essential role in providing access to housing for people in difficulty.