A figure never seen before! The number of households waiting for social housing reached 2.42 million at the end of 2022, a level that has never been so high, according to a statement from the Social Union for Housing (USH) published on Friday. This represents an increase of 7% compared to 2021, details the USH, which represents public and private social landlords.
This figure includes both households waiting for a first allocation and those already housed in the HLM stock and waiting for a transfer, numbering 797,000, said a spokeswoman for the USH. "The demand present in all territories is particularly marked in Île-de-France, on the Atlantic coast, the Mediterranean coast, the French Geneva and the Lille metropolis," the organization said in a statement.
See alsoHousing crisis: ways out of it
The figure does not take into account households eligible for social housing but who give up "given the long and too often prohibitive waiting times experienced by some territories," adds the USH. "After months of government denial, the housing crisis is now well established, and the continuous increase in the number of households waiting for social housing is the most glaring illustration," lament the social landlords.
"Building more social housing"
While the production of new housing plummets, victim of rising construction costs and restrictions on access to credit, housing actors are increasingly openly accusing the executive of doing too little on this front.
@emmacosse, President of the #Hlm Union: "We need actions that are not just slogans (...). I believe I participated, with many other actors, in a "CNR #Logement". We are not going to repeat the exercise ad nauseam. https://t.co/o1nH6PpEYl
— Emmanuelle Cosse (@emmacosse) May 12, 2023
"The weakening of the financial resources of HLM organizations, the decrease in APL (personalized housing assistance, Editor's note), the increase in the VAT rate on new production and the absence of political support of the subject of housing by the executive, since 2017, have had the immediate consequence of a decline in the production of social housing," castigates the president of the USH, Emmanuelle Cosse.
"It is urgent to do the opposite what has been done: strengthen aid for stone, put an end to the drains made annually on social landlords, mobilize public land to build more social housing," she adds.