Jean Castex on Tuesday recorded the renationalization of the management of active solidarity income (RSA) in Seine-Saint-Denis, thus removing part of the financial burden on the department. In return, it promises to strengthen its integration policies. If the idea snaked for several months, the government and the department formalized the agreement on the occasion of the visit of the Prime Minister on an integration project in Ile-Saint-Denis then in the prefecture of Bobigny.
It is “a significant advance, a victory for Seine-Saint-Denis”, greeted the president (PS) of the department Stéphane Troussel, who sees in it “a little more justice and equality” for the benefit of a territory hit by a poverty rate twice the national average (28% against 14%). “Many have said it, many have promised. Today we are doing it”, praised for his part Jean Castex who included this measure in the budget examined this fall in Parliament, as well as in the 3DS law which will be Assembly in December.
The RSA cost 551 million euros to the department of Seine-Saint-Denis
In detail, the device, which will come into force at the beginning of 2022 for a five-year experiment, will relieve the department of the continuous increase for more than fifteen years in the number of RSA beneficiaries – 101,000 at the end of 2020 according to the department, i.e. a charge of 551 million euros per year, against 220 million in 2004. At present, the cost of the RSA is borne partly by the State (331 million in 2020), partly by the department (220 million), far from the original promise of a “refund to the euro near” by the State, according to the department. However, the steady increase in the number of beneficiaries, further increased by the health crisis, ended up “suffocating the financing of our public policies, starting with integration policies”, underlined Stéphane Troussel, deploring “a widening of territorial inequalities “.
State and department have therefore agreed to freeze the annual amount of RSA in Seine-Saint-Denis at 520 million euros. Beyond that, the State will pay the additional cost out of its own pocket, estimated between 50 and 70 million euros from 2022. In return, “thanks to the room for maneuver found, we will double the resources devoted to integration “, promised Stéphane Troussel, responding to the call of the Prime Minister to” pass the gear “in the matter. The integration credits should thus increase from 23 to 46 million in 2023. If Seine-Saint-Denis acts as a pioneer in France for this experiment already underway in Mayotte, Guyana and Reunion, others departments could follow after showing their interest, such as Aisne, Somme, Creuse, Corrèze, Gironde or Landes.
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