Their conclusions could trigger the anger of quite a few mayors. Two key reports aiming to revive the government’s social policy were submitted yesterday to the Minister of Housing, Emmanuelle Wargon. These documents, which Le Parisien Today-en-France has consulted in preview, are the fruit of the work of two missions set up at the end of the year by the Minister to review the policy of construction and allocation of social housing.
Their objective? Answer a double question: how to build more social housing open to more social diversity? A high-risk subject for Emmanuelle Wargon, whose remarks on the subject in early December had aroused the ire of the Association of Mayors of France (AMF). Wishing to “break the ghettos”, she said she was in favor of tightening the sanctions of municipalities that do not respect the rules on social housing. This is to say if the theme is hot.
The first report, written by Thierry Repentin, mayor of Chambéry (Savoie) and president of the SRU (Solidarity and Urban Renewal) National Commission, proposes two scenarios to push mayors to meet their targets of 20% or 25% of housing construction. social until 2025 – the date on which the SRU law expires – and beyond by extending the law with a new text.
Extend the SRU law … and increase the penalties
The author of the report suggests either extending the obligation for municipalities to build new social housing and postponing it until 2034 or 2037, depending on the progress of the municipalities. Or to force these municipalities which will not have reached their objectives of 20% or 25% of social housing in 2025 to build an additional 33% every three years.
“This represents about 200,000 homes that should be built over a period of three years without forcing them to meet a deadline but with a progress point every three years,” says the mayor of Chambéry.
In return, Thierry Repentin recommends that the State equip itself with “more systematic and heavier” tools and sanctions in order to enforce the construction of these homes. “Today, bad students do not risk enough financial penalties and they are not heavy enough for repeat offender municipalities which should be subject to automatic increases doubled, tripled to be incentives”, he explains.
Objective, better serve the “front lines”
And remember that in practice, if penalties already exist, they are only rarely applied. “Everyone must have their place in town, this is the object of the SRU law and its extension,” he insists, reminding the target audience. “These HLMs shelter and must continue to shelter the people who were applauded during the first confinement every evening at 8 pm. Nurses, hospital staff, guards and cashiers, all those who are on the front line in the fight against Covid-19, do not forget them, ”he insists.
“These first lines” are also present in the report by Mickaël Nogal, LREM deputy for Haute-Garonne and president of the National Housing Council (CNL). Responsible for rethinking the terms of allocation of these housing, the deputy formulates a series of fourteen proposals. Among other things, he calls for “simplifying the list of priority audiences in order to facilitate access to housing for workers essential to the nation”. “You have to be close to your workplace when you’re a nurse or hospital worker,” he observes.
Building guards for more security
Mickaël Nogal also wants to speed up the application of the Elan law, which allows inter-municipal authorities to take over from the municipality in the allocation of housing for better consistency and transparency in their management. He suggests providing fiscal assistance to municipalities that build social and intermediate housing and developing the human presence in social housing through building guards, responsible for security, tranquility and mediation. “We have put it in place in Toulouse and it works well, it prevents squats and malicious acts”, underlines the rapporteur.
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Another measure recommended by the deputy LREM: to encourage more private owners to rent to low-income families in return for an advantageous tax exemption (up to 85% of the rents collected). The device exists but remains complex to implement. “We must put an end to the ghettos of the rich and the ghettos of the poor and finally guarantee a real social mix in the low-rent housing”, he concludes.
At the origin of these reports, Emmanuelle Wargon hopes to be able to transform these proposals into law by 2022. “It is urgent to legislate quickly on the subject because the SRU law expires in 2025 and it is essential to continue to mobilize by then the mayors to keep their social housing construction objectives, she says. Since the creation of the SRU law in 2000, 1.8 million housing units have been built, including 900,000 from municipalities governed by the SRU law. That’s almost half, we absolutely need to keep this momentum until 2025 and beyond. There are still 600,000 housing units to be built for an excluded population, front lines highlighted by the health crisis that we must not forget. “
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