Extension but strong restriction of the zero-interest loan (PTZ), end of the Pinel rental investment scheme, rental aid and construction support via the purchase of housing from developers by Action logement and the Caisse des dépôts...

The head of government listed the arbitrations of the executive before the working groups of the National Council of Refoundation (CNR) meeting at the House of Architecture in Paris.

But, she warned, "there is no magic measure, one and only, that would unblock the situation".

Elisabeth Borne also proposes to "work on the use of the right of pre-emption by local authorities" to curb land speculation.

It also asks ministers to "study" the overhaul of the taxation of rentals, including furnished tourist accommodation accused of aggravating the housing crisis throughout France. A project that must lead "in the next finance bill".

These measures, from the "housing" component of the CNR, were supposed to mark "a new method of consultation" wanted by Emmanuel Macron to recreate a link "between fellow citizens and political decision-making". In total, some 200 people worked on the subject for six months.

"This CNR housing is above all not an outcome," said a little earlier the Minister Delegate for Housing, Olivier Klein, in front of a cautious audience.

"There is nothing game-changer in this plan, which is minimalist, imprecise. There is not this kick that allows us to go up to the top of the pool, "said Véronique Bédague, CEO of Nexity, first real estate developer and co-facilitator of the CNR.

"I think we were unanimous on our findings and I fear that we are also unanimous in disappointment with the conclusions," said Emmanuelle Cosse, president of the Social Union for Housing, which represents social landlords.

"Disengagement of the State"

Olivier Klein had conceded in the morning that there was "a risk of social bomb" linked to the violent crisis of the sector, while new construction is in free fall, rental seized and poor housing affects nearly 4.1 million people.

In addition, the number of households seeking social housing (2.42 million) has never been higher and the number of homeless people has risen (to 330,000).

The government plan had five objectives: to promote home ownership and renting, to support the production and renovation of social housing, to restart construction and to increase the energy renovation of the private stock.

However, the provisions unveiled do not include any shock measures such as the control of land prices, one of the strong proposals from the CNR.

Even before Elisabeth Borne spoke, the housing world had not hidden its disappointment.

The ads "arouse the anger of professionals. Two hundred people involved and seven months of work reduced to nothing? There is no longer a housing policy," said seven employers' organizations, including the Real Estate Federation (Fnaim), the French Building Federation (FFB) and the Housing Pole, in a statement entitled "a whole despised sector".

HLM in Thiais, a suburb of Paris, in January 2023 © Geoffroy Van der Hasselt / AFP

"As it stands, this plan is not likely to respond to the immense concerns, the challenges that are before us," said the director general of the Abbé Pierre Foundation, Christophe Robert, also co-facilitator of the CNR.

For Pascal Boulanger, president of the Federation of Real Estate Developers (FPI), "there is no incentive for mayors builders, there is no status of the private landlord, we program the stop of Pinel when we need it".

"The announcements of the CNR housing actually hide the continuation of the disengagement of the State begun in 2017," accused for their part the LFI deputies.

© 2023 AFP