The town planning assistant resigns in Marseille, after revelations about a lack of social housing

"Following the events of the past few days, I have decided to return my delegation to the mayor of Marseille," said Mathilde Chaboche, who was in charge of town planning and the harmonious development of the city, in a press release. Contacted by AFP, she could not be reached immediately to give more details on her decision.

The regional daily La Marseillaise revealed on Tuesday that the city, led by a union of the left elected in 2020 two years after the deadly tragedy of unsanitary housing in rue d'Aubagne, was under threat of a default procedure in terms of construction of social housing, failing to achieve its objectives.

Over the period 2020-2022, according to a prefectural report, the municipality has only achieved 38,2% of its objective, which was the construction of 7.674 social rental housing units in a city where more than 40.000 requests for this type of housing are on hold.

If the prefect pronounced the deficiency, the city could be forced to pay fines or even be placed under state supervision for the issuance of building permits.

For the main municipal opposition group, Une Volonté pour Marseille, this resignation "sounds like a terrible collective failure for all the elected officials of Printemps Marseille" and is "a new stage in the dislocation of this incapable majority, according to these elected center and from the right, to preside over the affairs of the city".

Printemps Marseille, a broad coalition of leftists and environmentalists, succeeded Mayor LR Jean-Claude Gaudin in June 2020, whose end of term had been particularly marked by the issue of poor housing, after the collapse of two buildings. dilapidated in November 2018 which had killed eight people.

During the general assembly of housing organized at the end of 2022 by the town hall, the municipality had mentioned the construction of some 4.500 housing units per year, including 2.300 “affordable” housing units. In its electoral program, Printemps Marseille promised the construction of 30.000 housing units in six years, or 5.000 per year, "adapted to the income of the people of Marseille".