Housing Crisis Hits French Public Servants Hard
Law proposing housing for public servants: will it bring them closer to their workplaces?
By Christine Lejoux Real Estate Editor Cross-posted on
- ** Hit this link to copy it **
Navigating through the hustle and bustle of Paris each day, Lea, a nurse at a local hospital, sighs with exhaustion. Her daily commute swallows over an hour as she travels via public transportation to reach her home in Val-de-Marne – a sacrifice she makes due to her salary, which barely manages to foot the bill for a two or three-room apartment in the city.
"Our essential workers in the public sector are pushing through immense difficulties in finding affordable housing," laments Deputy David Amiel from Ensemble pour la République, echoing Lea's struggles. His newly-submitted bill proposes solutions to enhance access to housing for public sector workers, addressing the burdens they face on a daily basis.
Coping with Short Housing by Sharing with the Older Generation
In the engineer's detailed proposal furnished to the National Assembly, he advocates for change in various aspects of housing provision for the public sector. One such suggestion involves expanding the tenure of social housing for public servants who vacate their positions. The rationale behind this is ascribed to the belief that the entire public service sector faces severe difficulty in operations and recruitment due to the housing woes of its employees.
Currently, public officials holding social housing retain the right to remain in those premises for only six months upon departure from the public sector under a construction and housing code clause. However, this provision is exclusively applicable to the state public sector. Amiel seeks to extend this stipulation to the hospital sector, territorial administration, as well as public enterprises.
Subsidies and Permit Changes
To boost the supply of social housing for public employees, the deputy's bill calls for an increment in the number of allocation rights enjoyed by public administrations in HLM construction programs. Presently, public administrations may secure a cap of 10% of the social housing units constructed on land they offer to HLM builders at a discount. Amiel advocates for increasing this ratio to 50%, and potentially 70%, in order to strengthen the housing availability for public servants.
Moreover, the deputy also proposes allowing customs services and the penal system to select locations specifically for reserving social housing for their staff. This exception is already present for national defense personnel, healthcare workers, and internal security personnel. The idea behind it is to ensure the safety and well-being of these employees.
Dynamic Urban Planning
One of the challenges faced by public administrations is the inflexibility of urban plans that often impedes the conversion of surplus land or buildings into housing for public servants. To combat this, Amiel suggests granting administrations the ability to bypass certain provisions within local urban plans, enabling the conversion or construction of housing for their employees.
The bill's progress remains uncertain, as it follows a report on housing provisions for public sector workers that Amiel presented to the government, in response to their request, last year. The report aimed to formulate a comprehensive interministerial policy on housing access for public sector agents, complementing local initiatives.
Future Prospects
Although no immediate bill addressing the issue has been announced, the focus on public sector worker housing is not lost. The Ile-de-France Regional Health Agency has pledged an investment of over €21 million towards securing more than 1,000 housing reservation rights for the AP-HP (Paris Public Hospital System) and young professionals' residences.
Recent developments in Luxembourg and tax changes in France may offer indirect relief to those seeking housing. Auxiliary measures such as adjustments in single-parent housing allocation priorities and revised municipal support have been proposed in Luxembourg, contributing to broader affordable housing reforms. In France, extended tax scrutiny and clarified treatment of management share disposals, revealed through the 2025 Finance Act, could impact compensation structures within the public sector, though direct implications for housing remain to be seen.
In the coming days and weeks, monitoring subsequent countrywide initiatives in housing policy, particularly regarding social housing bills, will be essential to understanding the future of housing provisions for public servants in France.
- Lea, a nurse, faces difficulties finding affordable housing due to her low salary, necessitating an hour-long commute via public transportation to an apartment in Val-de-Marne.
- Deputy David Amiel from Ensemble pour la République has submitted a bill to address the housing challenges faced by public sector workers, proposing solutions to enhance their access to housing.
- The bill suggests expanding the tenure of social housing for public servants who vacate their positions, currently only available for six months under a construction and housing code clause, to the hospital sector, territorial administration, and public enterprises.
- To boost the supply of social housing, the bill proposes increasing the number of allocation rights enjoyed by public administrations in HLM construction programs from the current cap of 10% to as high as 70%.
- The bill also allows certain services, such as customs and the penal system, to reserve specific locations for social housing for their staff, similar to what is already available for national defense personnel, healthcare workers, and internal security personnel.
- The bill seeks to grant public administrations the ability to bypass certain urban planning provisions, enabling the conversion or construction of housing for their employees, as part of efforts to combat the inflexibility of urban plans that often impedes housing development for public servants.
