2023-11-21 07:54:24
More than 20 years after the law came into force, only four out of ten municipalities concerned have sufficient social housing. This is what the franceinfo and France Bleu survey revealed this Tuesday, while the 105th Congress of Mayors of France is taking place in Paris.
The Solidarity and urban renewal law of December 13, 2000 concerns medium and large towns located in large urban areas : municipalities with more than 3,500 inhabitants located in an urban area of more than 50,000 inhabitants. With the exception of the Paris region, where municipalities are concerned as soon as they exceed 1,500 inhabitants.
4 out of 10 municipalities subject to the law respect it
These cities, with some exceptions, are supposed to haveat least 20% social housing, or even 25% in tense areas. If they do not respect the law, they must pay a “solidarity contribution”. These “fines”, which amounted to a total of 85.4 million euros in 2020, can be increased if the municipality shows no desire to progress, but they can, conversely, be reduced by the amounts invested by municipalities to build social housing.
However, according to figures from the Ministry of Ecological Transition, only 39.2% of the municipalities concerned currently respect the SRU law, i.e. 1,163 cities are below the threshold out of the 2,157 municipalities subject to the law. 149 are exempt and 19 have not yet communicated their data.
There is better
This law “remains a success” for Thierry Repentin, PS mayor of Chambéry and president of the national SRU commission. “More than half of the housing built today is in catch-up municipalities”, he emphasizes. The proportion of cities with a low SRU rate – less than 15% – has decreased. Among these good students, Saint-Denis-les-Bourg, on the outskirts of Bourg-en-Bresse. In 2004, it had only 3% social housing. It now has 17%. “It’s a satisfaction, it didn’t happen by itself”welcomes its mayor, Guillaume Fauvet.
Note, the number of municipalities concerned by this law has increased, from 1,315 in 2004 to 2,157 in 2022. Result, if the proportion of municipalities in compliance is decreasing (they were 45.2% in 2003), the number of cities that respect the law is on the risefrom 595 in 2003 to 845 in 2022.
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Housing victims of their success
In the midst of a housing crisis, while new social housing is of high quality, with storage and parking spaces, insists the mayor of Saint-Denis-les-Bourg Guillaume Fauvet, these housing units are being snapped up. “The last operation delivered, we had 21 housing units, we had 400 requests”he indicates.
“Today, a teacher is eligible for HLM housing. In my department in Savoie, the police director calls me saying ‘Mr. Mayor, can you help me house police officers who can’t find accommodation?'” testifies the chosen one.
Some mayors don’t want to play the game
Some mayors are still resisting the law, also assures Thierry Repentin, president of the national SRU commission. “There are sometimes territories where during electoral campaigns, we affirm that we want a city without problems and therefore that we will ensure that there is no social housing. Even though these cities function thanks to to people who get up in the morning to clean the offices where you work, take care of your children”, castigates the mayor PS. This resistance is “politically engaged”.
Among the poor students who joined the system more than ten years ago, around 40% have made little or no progress, according to our study. This is the case for example in Générac, near Nîmes, where the social housing rate peaks at between 2 and 3%. “We are starting with nothing, how do you expect us to catch up with 350 housing units? We would disfigure the village, we would create ghettos. There is not enough land”, justifies Frédéric Touzellier, mayor of Les Républicains. The government “put something down and then we’ll sort it out”annoys the city councilor.
Other elected officials interviewed also highlight a very difficult context for social housing, with the drop in APL and the elimination of the housing tax in particular. “We could have a bonus for ‘builder mayors’. We need encouragement. By removing the housing tax, the government has shot us in the foot. So when we respect our commitments, let us be financially rewarded of this”argues Isabelle Le Callennec, Les Républicains co-president of the AMF Housing working group.
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