Social housing: Ancols publishes a report to "go beyond preconceived ideas"

Based on the latest publications on the subject, this report, which must be updated each year, details the profile of tenants, the situation of social housing, rents, the operation of landlords and their financing.

"It's about feeding the discussion with reliable figures to ensure that people debate without false stereotypes," Baptiste Prestel, director of statistics at Ancols, explained to AFP.

This overview recalls in particular that 70% of households are theoretically eligible for more than five million social housing units, through three levels of resource ceilings: PLAI (the lowest), PLUS and PLS (the highest).

In reality, however, far fewer of them are concerned, with 86% of the housing stock being made up of housing subject to PLUS ceilings, for which 54% of households are eligible.

Housing allocated mainly to people who work (56% of allocations between 2016 and 2019) and under 40 years old (56% in 2022).

The study also reveals that between 2018 and 2022, one in two households on average left their home after five years, and that after 10 years only a third of homes are still occupied by the same tenants.

Figures which "shatter the myth of people who stay in their social housing ad vitam aeternam", underlines Mr. Prestel.

It should be noted, however, that the mobility rate within the social housing sector has been falling in recent years, which explains in particular the drop in social housing allocations in 2022, to 418.000 compared to 467.000 in 2018.

The report also challenges the preconceived idea that social housing all looks like blocks of flats.

The social housing stock in fact comprises 15% of houses, mainly in the North and West, and 34% of apartments located in buildings with a maximum of three floors.

Only 8% of all social housing is in buildings of at least 10 floors, and 42% in buildings between five and nine floors.

Created in 2015, Ancols is responsible in particular for monitoring and evaluating social housing organizations.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.