Housing crisis: objective of zero empty buildings in Paris

In a forum, elected environmentalists and parliamentarians from Paris

are in favor of a drastic increase in taxes on vacant housing, with an uncapping of the current rates. They are also campaigning for increased use of requisitioning of vacant housing, considered to be an under-exploited lever.

During his general policy speech, the new Prime Minister spoke of the urgency of acting on housing. He praised the revival of construction and social access to property. But in Paris, and in most large metropolises, these measures miss the real issue. In a saturated city, where free space is practically exhausted, the solution cannot be to build more. Furthermore, social access to property will only transfer price-regulated housing to a free market subject to real estate speculation.

The crisis in Paris is not so much linked to the lack of housing in absolute terms, but rather to the collapse of rental supply and the correlative explosion of unoccupied housing.

According to the latest figures from the town hall, included in a recent article in Mediapart, out of 1.4 million homes in Paris, there are around 400,000 owner-occupiers – a very stable figure for twenty years –, 350,000 rental homes, 145 000 second homes and 145,000 vacant homes. The rest is made up of social and intermediate housing, as well as 60,000 properties occupied free of charge (a child living in an apartment owned by his family, for example).

while the city had one million rental housing units in 1945 in the private sector, there are only 350,000 left today.© Jgp

To put it simply, this concentration of real estate in the hands of a few privileged owners contributes to the drying up of rental supply and the increase in prices to the detriment of the majority. This is therefore where we must act.

Uncapping rates

Faced with this terrifying observation, it is time to take more radical measures.

Firstly, the current taxation on vacant housing and second homes in Paris is insufficient to effectively dissuade owners from leaving their properties unoccupied. To truly have an impact, we must consider a drastic increase in these taxes, with a lifting of the current rate cap. The objective is to make the maintenance of unoccupied or secondary-use housing financially unviable, in order to force the wealthiest owners to put these properties back on the long-term rental market, who could, in return, benefit from a reduction in taxation. Any surplus revenue could be reinvested in assistance programs for social housing or the rehabilitation of dilapidated buildings.

Secondly, the requisition of vacant housing is an under-exploited lever. Currently, the procedures for requisitioning unoccupied property are complex, depend on the prefect and are never used. It is necessary to simplify these procedures and broaden the powers of mayors so that they can act quickly in the face of the housing crisis. This involves granting town halls the possibility of requisitioning housing left vacant for several years (for example, beyond five years of vacancy) and making them available to meet urgent needs for social or family housing. . This requisition could be temporary, with a moderate rent paid to the owners for the duration of use of the accommodation, or give rise to expropriation in the event of refusal to re-let by the owner.

Limit timeshare

Thirdly, multiple ownership for speculative purposes must be limited. The solution could be inspired by Swiss constitutional law – a country not known for practicing spoliation – which imposes a strict quota of second homes per municipality. Applying such a quota, at least in the districts most affected by real estate vacancy, would make it possible to limit the number of housing units used for these purposes. This quota could also apply to multi-owners, limiting the number of homes that a person or company can own and operate for short-term profit. In addition, it is appropriate to leave the possibility to local authorities to regulate, as per district, the authorization of furnished tourist rentals.

During the debates on the Finance Law, the New Popular Front (NFP) tabled an amendment aimed at tripling the tax on second homes. He was not accepted. We can bet that the senators, confronted more directly with housing issues in their territories, will rectify the situation. Furthermore, the proposed law to transform offices into housing, as well as the new housing law announced soon, are opportunities not to be missed. Otherwise, vacancy will continue to empty our neighborhoods, even as thousands of families sleep on the streets. The government must take its responsibilities and give local authorities the means to put these unoccupied homes back on the market.

• *: The signatories
• Emile Meunier, Paris councilor and environmentalist metropolitan, president of the town planning and housing commission
• Fatoumata Koné, president of the Les Ecologistes group, City of Paris
• Antoinette Guhl, environmentalist senator from Paris
• Anne Souyris, environmentalist senator from Paris
• Carine Petit, environmentalist mayor of the 14th arrondissement
• David Belliard, environmentalist deputy at Paris town hall, President of the RIVP
• Anne-Claire Boux, environmental health assistant at Paris town hall
• Mélody Tonolli, deputy mayor of Paris, in charge of all questions relating to city policy.
• Sandrine Charnoz, environmental assistant at Paris town hall in charge of mixed economy companies and local public companies
• Frédéric Hocquard, environmental deputy at Paris town hall in charge of tourism and nightlife.
• Chloé Sagaspe, Paris environmentalist advisor
• Nour Durand-Raucher, Paris environmentalist advisor
• Raphaëlle Rémy-Leleu, Paris councilor & environmentalist metropolitan – Paris Center
• Emmanuelle Rivier, Paris environmentalist advisor
• Alice Timsit, Paris environmentalist advisor
• Léa Vasa, Paris environmentalist advisor
• Antoine Alibert, deputy mayor of the 20th arrondissement and co-secretary of Ecologists Paris
• Charlotte Nenner, Ile-de-France regional councilor and co-secretary of Ecologists Pari