Housing policy must become a national cause

The catastrophic situation in both the private and social housing sectors, which we have been warning about for several years, has now become a social fact that some seem to be discovering, through the alarming figures highlighted by social landlords. The number of households waiting for housing in HLM housing is increasing throughout France and particularly in the Var (41.713 requests at the end of July 2023, an increase of 10% compared to the same period in 2022). Conversely, the objectives for the construction of approved housing in the department should not be achieved: a large number of real estate operations having received approval will not see the light of day, for reasons inherent to the interdependence between our different sectors.

That of HLM housing is in fact based on that of new housing, via bulk purchasing. Faced with a joint crisis of supply and demand, the new housing sector is today almost at a standstill: sales figures are certainly up compared to 2022, but they are still far from those recorded in 2021, which was not - far from it - a reference year. The slight increase in available stocks is also misleading: it should decrease rapidly in the months to come. As a side effect, the construction sector is also penalized by the drop in construction starts at the end of July (-14%) and the movement should further increase with the issuance of building permits (-30%), which raise fears of failures for the most fragile companies. Another sector in great difficulty, the single-family home continues its plunge with -38% year-on-year over 7 months to the end of July 2023!

The dynamics of the transaction market also seem to have stalled. We are jointly witnessing a phenomenon of communicating vessels. It results in a shortage of rental housing in the old sector, which can only get worse, due to lack of sufficient supply in our territory, like the situation observed on the scale of the National territory. The gradual withdrawal from the market of the most energy-intensive goods should further accentuate this situation of extreme tension. On the front line on this issue of thermal renovation, the co-ownership trustees are for their part faced with increasing difficulties, concerning the approval by the co-owners of the work planned within the framework of the Climate and Resilience law, at a time when the household purchasing power is affected by the inflationary crisis.

How can we emerge from this major crisis that we are all facing, as players in housing, real estate and construction? From this point of view, the Provence Real Estate Observatory showed the way, 30 years ago, by bringing together all professionals in the sector in the same structure, to make our words heard and have greater influence in the public debate. The recent initiative of the main national federations, grouped within the Housing Alliance, makes me think that our strategy was the right one. Mobilization is more necessary than ever, the need for housing for our fellow citizens remains an essential subject but curiously marginalized by the 2024 Finance Bill recently presented.

However, in recent days it seems that this problem is starting to concern our elected officials. Housing policy must transcend political divisions to become a national cause.

Tribune by Jean-Marc Stefanini, President of the Var Territorial Delegation of the OIP & Deputy President of the FNAIM Var.