The housing crisis is worsening in France, warns the Abbé Pierre Foundation

Saturation of emergency accommodation, difficulties in accessing social and private housing: the housing crisis is worsening in France and affecting new audiences, warns the Abbé Pierre Foundation on Wednesday January 31, which denounces the lack of response of the government.

“The housing crisis is accelerating at an extremely worrying pace, in the face of which the government is continuing a policy of austerity, which for us is a fundamental error,” commented Christophe Robert, delegate, at a press conference. general of the Abbé Pierre Foundation.

The crisis affects, on the one hand, the most vulnerable populations.

The Abbé Pierre Foundation is therefore concerned about an increase in rental evictions, which reached a record level in 2022 (17.500), according to its annual report on poor housing published on Wednesday.

Likewise, the number of people on the streets is increasing, particularly children. More than 8.300 people, including 2.800 minors, were turned away each evening by 115 last fall, compared to 6.300 a year earlier.

The saturation of emergency accommodation is no longer a winter problem but now persists all year round, deplores the foundation.

At the same time, requests for social housing are at an all-time high: 2,6 million households are on the waiting list today, compared to 2 million in 2017.

In addition, issues related to housing now affect "many other groups", worries the Foundation.

Students and households are faced with a “shrinkage of rental supply” and an increase in rents due to the development of short-term tourist rentals.

A certain number of households are no longer able to borrow to access property due to the rise in interest rates and the construction of new housing, particularly social housing, is falling.

For the Abbé Pierre Foundation, this crisis is “unprecedented” because “it grips all spheres of housing at the same time, with unprecedented force and speed”.

And yet, the government continues to address the housing issue "through the budgetary prism", she denounces.

Make the fight against homelessness a national priority, generalize rent control, upgrade personalized housing assistance (APL), relaunch funding for social housing... The Foundation is issuing a series of proposals to reduce the problem -accommodation in the country.

Illustrative image of the article via Depositphotos.com.