The Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne detailed, this Monday, June 5, the measures of his plan to defuse the “risk of social bomb” that constitutes the housing crisis. The government project, drawn from the discussions of the National Refoundation Council (CNR), has five objectives: to promote access to property and rental, to support the production and renovation of social housing, to relaunch construction and to amplify renovation. energy from the private fleet. “There is no magic measure, one and only, which would unblock the situation”, warned the tenant of Matignon.
The zero rate loan (PTZ) extended until 2027
To help households acquire their homes in a context of rising rates, the PTZ, which was to end on December 31, 2023, will be extended until 2027, confirmed the Prime Minister. But the system will be refocused in December on new collective housing in tense areas, and in all housing (collective and individual) in relaxed areas subject to renovation.
The measure will therefore not concern purchasers of a new “small pavilion”, the government having “made the choice” to “accommodate the greatest number”.
End of the Pinel device
In order to promote access to rental, the government has chosen to stop the Pinel system at the end of 2024, deemed ineffective, to focus on “intermediate rental housing”, i.e. housing which, without being social, allows moderate rents.
This system reserved for tense areas will be open to around a hundred additional municipalities, currently located in relaxed areas.
Elisabeth Borne, who shelled the arbitrations of the executive before the working groups of the National Council for Refoundation (CNR) meeting at the Maison de l’architecture in Paris, also proposes to “work on the use of the right of preemption by the communities” to curb land speculation. She also asks the ministers to “study” the overhaul of the taxation of rentals, in particular furnished tourist accommodation accused of aggravating the housing crisis everywhere in France. A project which must lead “in the next finance bill”.
In addition, the monthly payment for the revision of the wear rate will be extended until the end of 2023 in order to prevent this rate from “becoming a blockage”.
The development of the “real solidarity lease”, which makes it possible to acquire cheaper housing without owning the land, will also be “supported”, assured Matignon, by revising the resource ceilings upwards.
160 million euros devoted to the “Housing First” system
The “Visale” guarantee, which makes it possible to obtain a rental deposit from Action Logement, will also be extended to “more than 2 million people” by 2027, against 1 million since 2018.
An additional envelope of 160 million over five years will also be devoted to the “Housing first” system, which consists in granting permanent housing to people who are poorly housed.
To relaunch new construction, which is currently at a standstill, the government plans to have Caisse des Dépôts and Action Logement buy out 47,000 unsold homes from developers.
Finally, to accelerate the energy renovation of buildings, the MaPrimeRénov’ system will be reinforced. These measures will be financed in particular by the end of the Pinel device and the refocusing of the PTZ, said Matignon.
“This CNR housing is above all not an outcome”, declared a little earlier the Minister Delegate for Housing, Olivier Klein, in front of a circumspect public. Even before Elisabeth Borne spoke, the housing world had not hidden its disappointment.