Nearly one apartment in five is unoccupied in Paris. Emmanuel Grégoire, first deputy mayor of Paris, wants communities to be able to requisition housing in tense areas.
“We must get out of a two-speed France, where the richest can be multiple owners and underutilize their homes, where those who live and work there can no longer find housing there,” he says. Second homes now represent 9% of the stock, a figure which is close to the national level (9.5%) The production of new social housing remains largely insufficient according to the left-wing elected official. He hopes with his new provisions to deter the accumulation of unused real estate and thus free up housing for those looking for a roof over their heads, “in particular for families with medium or low incomes”, at the same time promoting “better social diversity and fighting against gentrification”. The first deputy proposes that communities can use water and electricity consumption data for the purposes of identifying unoccupied or underused housing.