Valérie Létard announces a reduced levy on social landlords

This levy was put in place in 2018 to compensate for the drop in the Personalized Housing Assistance (APL) and represents 1,35 billion euros collected each year between 2020 and 2024, according to figures from the social landlord confederation Union sociale de l'habitat (USH).

According to information provided by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Renewal, the government is proposing to cap the amount of the RLS at 1,1 billion euros.

For years, social landlords have been calling for the abolition of the RLS, or at least its reorientation towards housing production and renovation operations, as advocated by USH president Emmanuelle Cosse.

Valérie Létard wants to "go further to give landlords more room for maneuver" and intends to accompany this reduction in the RLS with "a counterpart of specific commitments to produce housing on the part of social landlords".

Emmanuelle Cosse stressed to AFP "an important act" on the part of the government which "recognizes that social landlords need room for maneuver" to build and renovate housing.

In the first half of 2024, 2,7 million people were waiting for social housing, while at the same time the creation of new social housing slowed down.

Added to this need for new housing are the requirements for renovating existing buildings, particularly to improve their energy performance.

"I have obtained the postponement of the envelope of 200 million euros of credits to finance these renovations in 2025," announced Valérie Létard on Tuesday, referring to the envelope of 1,2 billion euros over three years which had been promised by the former Minister of Housing Patrice Vergriete in 2023, before being frozen last July.

This commitment of "400 million euros per year" from 2024 to 2026 "was transformed into less than 200 million euros in 2024 and 200 million in 2025", deplores Emmanuelle Cosse. "We are asked to renovate housing without specific aid, unlike MaPrimeRénov'", the aid available to private landlords, she added.