Le Figaro Nantes
1.4 million euros.
The bill is steep for the municipality of La Baule, whose annual budget amounts to 63 million.
This year again, the famous seaside resort of Loire-Atlantique received a fine for its lack of social housing.
“
It’s disproportionate, inequitable and ideological ,
”
protested Mayor LR Franck Louvrier, during the municipal council of March 1 during which he revealed the amount of the sanction which he describes as
“
a form of racketeering
”
.
At the end of December, the town was declared deficient in a prefectural decree, as were other neighboring towns such as La Turballe or Le Pouliguen.
“
The State imposes untenable objectives from Paris, decides what we must build, what population we must house there…
”
regrets the Baule councilor
to Le
Figaro .
On its territory, which has almost half second homes, there are 24,000 homes.
Currently, 969 are HLM and an additional 200 should be built by 2025. However, the SRU law requires them to build 25% social housing by this deadline.
“
Today, we are at a little less than 10
%.
Reaching 25
%, it’s impossible,
”
sighs the town’s chief magistrate.
The one who ended up signing a social diversity contract with the State (allowing certain legislative provisions to be relaxed) would have to build around 300 per year to be on target.
Also read: La Baule, Les Sables-d'Olonne… The new problems of these seasonal resorts which have become “seaside towns” all year round
No big towers
“
64
% of local elected officials are unable to apply the law.
Applying the same rules to different municipalities is madness
"
, he continues, while he is subject to constraints in terms of construction such as
"
the preservation of built heritage, submergence zones, the Littoral law, zones wetlands, the cost of land…
”
.
He also wants to
“
learn lessons from the mistakes of past years
”
and above all not build large towers, which have become uninhabitable hubs where living together sometimes leaves something to be desired.
On February 21, Franck Louvrier was one of the signatories of a column in
Le JDD
addressed to the Minister of Housing Guillaume Kasbarian, in which 80 elected officials asked to reopen a debate around the Law relating to solidarity and urban renewal.
This text was published three weeks after the Prime Minister's general policy speech, during which Gabriel Attal had precisely raised the subject.
He had defended the idea of
"
giving a hand to mayors in the allocation of the first social housing built in their municipality
",
and suggested that intermediate rental housing intended for the middle classes, too rich for social housing and too poor for a private park, are included in the calculations.
Comments echoed this Thursday morning by Minister Guillaume Kasbarian interviewed on
Europe 1
:
“
We want to integrate objectives for the construction of intermediate housing to meet the needs of the middle class
”
.
This possible development delights the mayor of La Baule.
“
This provision would be particularly interesting for our municipality
”
, Franck Louvrier already thinks, even if the percentage of intermediate rental housing necessary has not yet been revealed.
Will 2024 mark the last year of fines for the peaceful seaside town?
The bill should be presented by the summer, even if opposition is already being heard.
In the meantime, these are
“
amounts that are being robbed from our gross savings and ultimately from our investment capacity
”
, concludes the former collaborator of Nicolas Sarkozy.