Housing crisis: Local elected officials, parliamentarians and citizen groups put pressure on government

After Paris, Saint-Malo (Île-et-Villenes), the Basque Country or Annecy, it is Bastille’s turn to introduce particularly restrictive regulations to stop the conversion of residential buildings into well-maintained tourist accommodation. Thursday 1^Eh In June, the proposal of the by-law was to be submitted to the municipal council. A compensation system will be established in the old center of the city: from March 2024, accommodation converted into tourist rental should be compensated by converting it into business accommodation.

Amid the rise of the unhelpful Airbnb phenomenon, which is turning housing to the detriment of the population, a growing number of elected officials across France are opting to dismantle regulations at the local level. In the agglomeration of Bastia, the number of furnished tourist accommodation increased by almost 40% between 2019 and 2022. “We lack housing to rent or buy, and well-equipped tourist accommodation has increased prices. Some real estate in the old center is selling for twice as much as in 2019”The mayor of Bastia, Pierre Savel, acquits.

The announcement came a week after adjournment of the All-Party Bill (PPL) to target tourist rentals. Although MPs from different parties agreed on the text, elected representatives of the majority assessed that the PPL was not “unsuccessful” At this stage, the matter was postponed until October. “The text was postponed due to the pressure of the Ministry of Defense for political reasonsConfirms the Socialist deputy Ignace Ecchanis (Pyrenees-Atlantiques), who was supposed to carry the bill with the Macronist deputy Anaige Le Meur (Finistère). Housing should be the first subject of government, a subject of compromise, because everyone shares the observation that action must be taken. »

The disappointment was all the stronger because this delay echoes another: the announcement of the National Recovery Board’s proposals for housing has been delayed from May 9 to June 5. And this, despite the growing crisis: rising interest rates are limiting home ownership, the rental market is losing its fluidity, building permits and housing starts are declining, including in social housing, where the queue reaches a record 2.4 million families.

“reverse charge”

So associations, local elected officials and parliamentarians, tired of waiting for arbitration, are organizing. Bringing together twenty local networks born in Saint-Malo, Chamonix (Haute-Savoie), Lorient (Morbihan), Arcachon (Gironde) or Dieppe (Seine-Maritime), the national collective of citizens presented its proposals on Wednesday 31 May. Restriction of tourist accommodation. Among them, one “Reverse taxes for the benefit of people who rent during the year”And income from seasonal rentals can benefit from a reduction of up to 71% of the amount received. “These advantages encourage owners to rent furnished accommodation, especially since the nightly price is much more profitable– says Brigitte Cottet, representative of the Association of Residents of the Old Town of Annecy. Our profitability is three to four times higher than that of rented accommodation. »