Construction of HLM, revaluation of APL, democratization of the PTZ… The New Popular Front has unveiled its housing program.
After several days of intense negotiations, the New Popular Front reached an electoral agreement and presented this Friday, June 14, its program for the legislative elections. On the question of housing, the New Popular Front wants in particular to “defend the right to housing”, revalue APLs, relaunch the construction of HLM and expand access to zero-interest loans. Overview of the measures announced.
• Relaunch the construction of HLM
The New Popular Front sets itself the objective of “building 200,000 public housing units per year for five years to the most ambitious ecological standards”. Public housing here seems to refer to social housing.
After reaching a peak in 2015 (with 86,000 HLM housing units put into service according to the Social Union for Housing or USH), the construction of HLM is declining regularly. According to latest figures available from the Ministry of Ecological Transition“71,100 ordinary housing units were rented for the first time in the social housing stock” in 2022. In addition, a study by the Bank of the Territories published at the end of 2023 estimated that in “the short term, the sector could be able to start construction on between 70,000 and 80,000 new homes each year between 2022 and 2028”. Then HLM construction should reach 66,000 new homes on average per year from 2030.
The objective of the New Popular Front is therefore particularly ambitious. In order to help social landlords, the political alliance wants to reverse “Macron’s cuts for HLM organizations of 1.4 billion euros annually”.
The program here refers to a specific mechanism set up in 2018 by Emmanuel Macron and called solidarity rent reduction (RLS). The government had decided to reduce personalized housing assistance (APL) by 5 euros per month per household. At the same time, in the social rental stock, the executive has required HLM organizations to compensate for this drop in APL by reducing rents in the same proportions. Which mechanically reduces their income. At the start of 2024, the USH estimated that this represents a cost of 1.3 billion euros per year for HLM offices.
The New Popular Front therefore wants to reconsider this measure, which a priori amounts to injecting 1.3 billion euros in additional public spending per year (whether via the APL, by directly subsidizing HLM offices or otherwise).• Increase APL by 10%
The New Popular Front promises to increase personalized housing assistance by 10%.
The term APL generally refers to the three major housing aids: family housing allowance (ALF), personalized housing assistance (APL) and social housing allowance (ALS). In 2022, all APLs represented 15.4 billion euros, according to the Housing Account Report 2022. This figure is “down for the sixth consecutive year (-1.7%, after -5.7% in 2021 and -14.9% since 2016)”, noted the report.
A 10% increase in all APLs would thus represent a cost to public finances of around 1.54 billion euros per year.
• Generalize rent capping
The program promises “mandatory rent control in tense areas as well as land prices”.
Today, all municipalities located in tense areas are already affected by measures to control the increase in rents between two leases. Furthermore, the regulation of rent increases during the lease applies throughout France.
The New Popular Front therefore seems to be referring here to the capping of rents (where there is a maximum rent not to be exceeded according to different criteria). This system was set up on an experimental basis in around thirty cities which requested it (such as Paris, Lille, Lyon or Bordeaux). It would therefore be a question here of generalizing this system to all tense areas.
• Do not touch HLM quotas
On the occasion of his general policy speech last January Prime Minister Gabriel Attal had indicated that he wanted to relax the HLM quotas imposed within the framework of the SRU law. A bill along these lines was currently being examined in Parliament. but it was erased from the tablets with the dissolution.
The SRU law provides that certain municipalities must have at least 20 or 25% social housing by 2025, depending on the case. Nearly two thirds (64%) of municipalities affected by the SRU law did not respect their social housing production objectives over the period 2020-2022.
Financial sanctions exist against municipalities that do not respect their quotas. The New Popular Front therefore wishes to increase these sanctions.
• Universal rental guarantee
“The universal rent guarantee to provide security for owners and tenants” is another strong measure of the program with regard to housing. This involves setting up a system that will pay rent to the lessor in the event of payment difficulty by the tenant. There are private insurance companies which offer this type of mechanism (for private landlords and at their expense). There is also the Visale guarantee, free and offered by the joint organization Action Logement to tenants, but which only concerns certain profiles.
In 2023, 319,107 new surety contracts were taken out as part of the Visale guarantee. And since 2016, just over 1.2 million Visale contracts have been issued. In a financial report from Action Logementthe financial cost of the Visale guarantee is estimated at 111 million euros in 2023 (net stakes, procedural costs included).
In 2023, according to INSEE40.2% of households in France rented their accommodation (including 17.6% in HLM housing and 22.6% in private housing). According to an INSEE note cited by The echoesFrance had 30.8 million households in 2023. In other words, there are around 12.38 million tenant households, according to our calculations.
Assuming a universal rental guarantee which would cost as much as the Visale guarantee per tenant household (and assuming that most of the Visale guarantees granted since 2016 are still active), it would therefore take a little more of 1 billion euros of budget per year to finance this measure.
• Repeal of the anti-squat law
The New Popular Front wishes to return to the anti-squat law carried by the current Minister of Housing Guillaume Kasbarian and repeal it. This tripled the sanctions incurred by the squatters up to 3 years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euros.
In addition, the offense of entry into the home has been extended to second homes. The express eviction procedure, without recourse to a judge, has also been extended to vacant housing, empty of furniture. Thus, the victim files a complaint, has the occupation noted and contacts the prefect who orders the squatter to leave within 48 hours. The forced evacuation is carried out between 24 hours (if it concerns the home) and 7 days (for another residential premises). The classic procedure for evicting a tenant, going through a judge, generally lasts around 2 years.
The text finally accelerated procedures in the event of unpaid rent. In particular, lease contracts systematically provide for an “automatic termination clause”, which the owner can activate without having to take legal action. The judge can grant the tenant a payment deadline, but on condition that the latter seizes it.
The New Popular Front also proposes “a ban on rental evictions for unpaid rent without a rehousing proposal”.
• Opening of the PTZ to all first-time buyers
The political alliance promises “the opening of the zero-interest loan to all first-time buyer households without geographical distinction or between new or old”.
In 2024, the government has greatly tightened access to PTZ. For example, it is no longer possible to buy a new house. This aid is only available for purchases in collective housing (in other words for apartments) and only in stressed areas (A bis, A and B1). The zero-interest loan was previously accessible in new buildings everywhere in France.
In the old one, there was no change in 2024: only purchases in relaxed zones (B2 and C) give access to a PTZ. And it is always necessary to carry out renovation work representing 25% of the total cost of the operation to be financed.
But not everyone can have access to a PTZ. Certain income ceilings must not be exceeded, which depend on the composition of the household and the geographical area.
• Emergency accommodation
The New Popular Front also proposes to “create emergency accommodation spaces allowing unconditional reception and proceed in emergency situations to requisition the empty housing necessary to house the homeless”.
• Better insulate homes
Developing the energy renovation of housing is one of the proposals of the New Popular Front. This intends to “ensure the complete insulation of housing, by strengthening aid for all households and guaranteeing their complete support for low-income households”.
• Plan the fight against discrimination
Among the fight against discrimination, the New Popular Front targets access to housing and wishes to strengthen sanctions.
Several investigations, such as this SOS Racisme study dating from 2019 shows that racial discrimination in rental files is still very present.