Paris (AFP)
The ongoing reform of housing aid (APL), which should allow their calculation in real time in relation to income, will not come into force as planned on Wednesday, due to the coronavirus crisis.
"In the context of the coronavirus epidemic - Covid-19, the government has taken the decision to postpone the implementation of the reform of + real-time APL + planned for April 1," the Ministry of Housing announced in a press release published on March 17.
The ministry did not fix a new date for this reform which was to make it possible to calculate the APL according to the current incomes of the beneficiary and not, as it is always the case, of those earned two years before.
This decision follows the announcement by President Emmanuel Macron of the postponement of all ongoing reforms, including that of pensions, to focus on the economic and health crisis linked to Covid-19.
"Like any reform", the overhaul of the APL "requires increased mobilization of staff from the funds which does not seem compatible with the current situation", judges the Ministry of Housing.
This is not the first postponement of this reform. It was originally scheduled to enter into force in early 2019, with the government counting on it to save around a billion euros, but has been postponed several times due to difficulties in implementing it.
It is, moreover, distinct from the drop of 5 euros per month in APL, decided at the start of Emmanuel Macron's five-year term, at the origin of a controversy relayed by the opposition and associations.
© 2020 AFP