Le Figaro Nice
The Côte d'Azur is attractive, its capital in particular. In Nice, it is increasingly complicated to find accommodation. This observation can be established in many other cities in France, with the difference that in the fifth French city, prices are rising. According to the study published by the specialized site Best Agents last month, the price per square meter is around 5200 euros per square meter, an increase of more than 2% compared to the first quarter of 2023, where a decline is widespread in other cities.
Faced with this "housing crisis", as Anthony Borré, first deputy mayor of Nice, dares to call it, the local authority is trying to coordinate a response. However, there is no question of resolving to rent control, as Lyon or Lille and Paris do. On the contrary, the elected official thinks that it will encourage owners to withdraw their properties from the market. "Housing is one of the major issues of our society today," recalled Christian Estrosi's right-hand man at a press conference on the subject last Friday. Before drawing up a slightly alarmist and concerned observation: "The weight of housing on the household budget is on average 30% and we count 100,000 applicants for additional social housing in one year, adds the one who is also president of the landlord Côte d'Azur Habitat. Rental prices are soaring and those of construction and land are exploding."
"I hear the difficulty of the promoters, this declaration is also a tool for them"
Anthony Borré, first deputy mayor of Nice and president of Côte d'Azur Habitat.
In the continuity of a public-private partnership charter dating from 2012, the Nice Metropolis will expand it by associating fifteen municipalities, thirty developers and sixteen social housing organizations in an attempt to regulate prices and improve accessibility. Will the actors respect the pact or will they benefit from a speculation that reaches out to them under the Côte d'Azur sun? The acquisition ceiling prices of 2607 euros / m2 were "mostly respected" but it was decided a new ceiling price in VEFA (sale in the future state of completion) up to 2550 euros / m2 excluding tax, with the parking space included. The land charge may not exceed 300 euros either. And the community warns: "It will not provide subsidies to operations that exceed these prices," she warns. "I hear the difficulty of the promoters, this declaration is also for them a tool," justifies Anthony Borré.
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Carers' Convention
In the same vein, a partnership agreement has been in place since mid-March to facilitate access to housing for nursing staff at Nice University Hospital. Four landlords have committed to offering intermediate housing (properties on average 10% cheaper than those on the market) for these employees, who struggle to find housing on the Côte d'Azur close to their work. According to the actors concerned, this constitutes one of the major barriers to the recruitment or retention of caregivers in the Nice territory. Since this agreement is in place, the requests have multiplied - up to a hundred in the first days - indicates the management of the human resources pole of the CHU. "After studying the profiles and reorientations for some, about fifteen contracts have been finalized and others are in progress," adds Karine Hamela, the director in charge of this tripartite file with donors and the community.
Since 2018, this request for help to house the nursing staff of Nice came from the Force Ouvrière union and its health sector. "It will be necessary to further simplify the procedures," notes Michel Fuentes, secretary general of FO. "In 40 years of trade unionism, I have led battles, sometimes I have been wrong, but here, I do not believe. This is a great victory for the staff," he adds, while stressing that 300 positions are still vacant at the CHU.
"The housing crisis is here. She is strong and powerful," insisted Anthony Borré during his press conference. In addition to the security problems that the elected representative must lead in connection with social housing - such as those in Les Moulins or in a "hellish tower" road to Turin - he is trying to get active on the front of price regulation. At the microphone of France blue azure, Tuesday, he went so far as to evoke the desire for a tax for housing left vacant on the territory of Nice and to ask for a two-year moratorium on the climate law concerning thermal sieves because of "this social bomb of housing".