Faced with the social housing crisis, mayors deplore a lack of land and development constraints

The lack of social housing is a reality in many French cities. In the Bouches-du-Rhône, 400,000 people are waiting to be awarded a roof, while 72 municipalities in the department do not respect the share of the 25% of social housing imposed by law. The prefect of the PACA region puts pressure on mayors with field pre -empties and the increase in fines.

For example, the municipality of Gémenos received a fine of one million euros. It is one of the most sanctioned in the department. 400 social housing units in the municipality is missing to reach the 25% quota provided by law. If the mayor Les Républicains explains to refuse to make building bars, he deplores the lack of land available for projects on a human scale. “Compared to new standards, flooding or danger of fires, state services make land unconscious”Giberta’s Roland.

“You have to free up land to build”Acquiesce Nicolas Isnard, mayor Les Républicains de Salon-de-Provence, and president of the regional public land establishment, because to rebuild and densify the city centers will be too long and too expensive. You need new lands, he says. “We have been hindered for construction for too longexplains Nicolas Isnard. The goal is not to use all the available land, all natural or agricultural areas, to deliver endless subdivisions. It takes a minimum of land. “

There is an emergency, hammered the elected official, pointing to the pile of request for social housing on his desk: “You have the grandma who can no longer pay his rent, the young person who wants to leave his parents, the prison officer who has just been transferred to the living room and who cannot accommodate himself in the private sector.” In Salon-de-Provence, the city may respect the quota, nearly 3,000 social housing requests are pending.