Le Figaro Bordeaux
For the left and environmentalists, this is a proposition that does not pass.
During his general policy declaration, Prime Minister Gabriel Attal announced his desire to
“evolve”
the regulations on social housing.
In reaction, the mayor of Bordeaux, Pierre Hurmic, and several city councilors including Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, and Grégory Doucet, the mayor of Lyon, wrote him an open letter to express their “
very strong concern”
.
Adopted in 2000 and strengthened in 2013, the law relating to solidarity and urban renewal (known as the SRU law) stipulates that municipalities with more than 3,500 inhabitants must have 25% of social housing by 2025. A quota which inconveniences some elected officials, particularly on the Côte d'Azur, who prefer to pay heavy fines rather than build HLM.
Gabriel Attal proposed on Tuesday to include intermediate housing,
“accessible to the middle class”
, in this 25% of social housing .
A measure perceived by the social union for housing as an
“unraveling”
of the law.
For Pierre Hurmic and the signatories of this letter, the SRU law has
“not yet fully produced the expected fruits”
, and
“the fight against social and geographical divides”
is
“a fight which takes place over the long term and for which massive efforts must be continually deployed
.
However, they believe that
"breaking the thermometer is not the right solution"
, recalling that
"the middle class is eligible for social housing"
, but that they do not have access to it because of the difficulty in obtaining
“a sustainable price for the land necessary for the production of these new housing units”
.
Read alsoSocial housing: 64% of municipalities are “outlawed”, criticizes the Abbé Pierre Foundation
“A major political error”
According to mayors and presidents of metropolises, intermediate housing
“meets the needs of another part of the population”
with higher incomes.
This would, however, present several disadvantages compared to social housing, because
"it is not aimed at the middle class"
, and does not guarantee
"an affordable offer in the long term"
(since these housing can be
"resold without constraint »
).
In short, including this type of housing in the calculation of social housing
“would be a major political error”
, according to them.
These elected officials are requesting several measures from the government, including support for the renovation of existing social housing and the possibility of mobilizing state land, without limit of discount, to create social housing.
The revolt led by Pierre Hurmic was, however, sharply criticized by his opponents in Bordeaux.
“Demanding not to be a builder mayor, not putting €1 more into social housing since the start of his mandate, adding local standards to national standards and in the end not respecting the objectives of the SRU law.
Actions before lessons Pierre Hurmic
,” said Thomas Cazenave, opposition municipal representative (Renaissance), on X (ex-Twitter).
The former mayor (Les Républicains) Nicolas Florian judges that “
Pierre Hurmic intends to teach everyone a lesson”
, while
“the production of social housing has collapsed in Bordeaux since 2020”
.