The state wants to help cities identify vacant homes

Bordeaux, Toulouse, Grenoble ... This plan aims to support local elected officials to fight against empty or unoccupied housing and takes the form of incentive measures, in particular with the deployment of a digital platform that makes it possible to identify and locate vacant housing. The aid also includes additional credits for the renovation of housing.

By the end of 2021, 57 selected local authorities - including the metropolitan areas of Bordeaux and Lille - will benefit from digital tools to "identify, contact and convince the owners of vacant housing" and monitor the delivery of housing on the market.

The list also includes the metropolis of Grenoble, the communities of agglomerations of Puy-en-Velay, Grand Cahors, Bassin d'Aurillac, or even Châlons-en-Champagne.

They will be joined by 44 other pilot territories which will obtain engineering credits intended to "put these housing units back on the market".

"It is estimated that 1,1 million homes in France today unoccupied for more than 2 years; this represents 3,5% of the private housing stock," said Ms. Wargon.

The Ministry of Ecological Transition specifies that it wants to provide "methodological support" to local actors, in particular through the provision of tax and land data "on vacant housing and their owners".