The Senate is unanimous on a bill against “degraded housing”

“We wanted to produce a text that would be as useful as possible to accelerate and simplify the renovation of this degraded habitat,” greeted Les Républicains senator Dominique Estrosi-Sassone, while calling on the government to “rapidly” continue the construction project. a “major housing law” to “provide remedies for this great crisis facing our country”.

After promising Tuesday that this text would only be a "first step", the Minister for Housing Guillaume Kasbarian was delighted to provide "an additional brick to secure the supply on the market and ensure the renovation of the housing park for the French".

The deputy just appointed to the government presented his first text since his appointment, which took place after the adoption of the bill in the National Assembly at the end of January.

Deputies and senators will soon have to agree on a compromise version of this text during a joint committee, with a view to final adoption.

The government project against "degraded housing" intends in particular to facilitate work before permanent deterioration in fragile housing, numbering 1,5 million in France according to the executive.

In particular, it creates a collective global loan, which trustees will be able to request, in order to improve access to credit for these co-ownerships and to save time compared to a multitude of individual files.

Another measure at the heart of the text, a new procedure for the expropriation of housing affected by a danger or unsanitary order, with a view to anticipating possible situations of irreversible degradation.

Faithful to its status as a chamber of territories, the Senate has worked to strengthen the prerogatives of mayors, particularly in the granting of “rental permits” in areas of degraded housing.

After the Assembly, the Senate also gave the green light to various measures to toughen criminal sanctions against slumlords, these owners renting accommodation in unworthy conditions.

“This text is going in the right direction but the absolute priority is the housing crisis,” underlined environmentalist Antoinette Guhl. Socialist Viviane Artigalas, for her part, asked the minister for “innovations” for the sector, “so that this crisis does not turn into a social bomb”.