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'Empty dwellings in Paris: housing aide believes 100k can be rebuilt'

'Empty dwellings in Paris: housing aide believes 100k can be rebuilt'

'year), which, along with the 3.5% of households owning half of the rental housing according to the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Research, only adds to the strain on an already stressed rental market. It is only natural not to be surprised by these figures, declares Jacques Baudrieu, communist deputy for housing at the Paris mayor's office and co-author of Paris Not for Sale (2013) with his comrade and successor Yann Brossat as mayor, and reminds us that these housing stocks are "a stratum to be rebuilt".

How do you react to the figure of 262,000 empty apartments? How can you explain that?

I've been working in this field for ten years, so it doesn't surprise me. But the situation in Paris is completely''crazy. There are 262,000 empty apartments and lots of people sleeping on the streets. On the one hand, there are 128,000 empty apartments, among them about 80,000 temporarily empty pending re-letting or under renovation, and at least 40,000 really empty apartments without electricity meters. On the other hand, there are 134,000 secondary use apartments. Among them, about 45,000 are housing for workers from Paris who live in the province or abroad, and about 25,000 are illegally rented apartments through Airbnb, which is forbidden. The remaining apartments are secondary homes that their owners rarely visit. The owners of these properties, which are mostly in the center and west of Paris, are often multiple owners possessing''over five properties are people who have enough money and assets not to rent or use them for their intended purpose.

What are the implications for Parisians who want to rent because of this strain on the real estate market? "

The rental market is drying up. In the private sector, not including social housing, 22% of apartments are not rented! This applies mainly to small apartments in the city center and in the VII, VIII and VI districts - these are one-bedroom apartments that are popular with new residents of Paris. This phenomenon makes the possibility of living in Paris much more difficult. And even within the whole island of France, it is very onerous and explains the small drop in population in Paris and why a few hundred''people can stand in line to rent an apartment.

Does the 19% vacant park of Parisian real estate have a significant impact on the environment and urban development?

Of course, this is a catastrophic fact. These empty apartments are mostly located in the heart of Paris, pushing residents away from the center. Housing is being built in the suburbs to compensate, which is absurd if we seek to comply with the "no net growth of artificial land development" law. Moreover, if we bring back these vacant Parisian apartments, which are in areas with excellent public transportation, residents will be much less likely to use their car to get around.

You want to bring back these empty apartments. How many apartments can''repossess the city?

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Of the total number of empty apartments, 25,000 are illegal Airbnb apartments, and 80,000 are vacant apartments or rarely used secondary dwellings. Approximately 100,000 of the 262,000 apartments can be reclaimed. And that number is growing! To do this, we need to appeal to two groups: those who make a lot of money from illegal Airbnb tourist apartments, and multiple owners who have enough money and real estate that they don't need to rent them out or do anything with them.

How do we fight these illegal Airbnb apartments?

We need to penalize the scammers. For several years, Paris City Hall officials have taken them to court. If we win a few cases, there are still a lot of loopholes in the legal system.''its rate set by the state is too low. It should be tripled, although last year its rate was raised by only 36%. The second tax on secondary housing is set at the commune level within the limit set by the government, it is also too low. 80% of the 255 communes that have imposed this tax, created by the communists, are administrative units of law and order, such as Bordeaux under Juppé, Nice or Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Your Socialist colleague Emmanuel Gregoire also proposes simplifying the requisitioning of empty apartments...

The Communists with the Socialists have annually proposed the question of transferring the power to requisition empty apartments from the state to the commune, together with the question of rate regulation. Thus''works already now, when it's the responsibility of the mayor's office, and when the mayor's office has that authority, it works. As for property rights, I'll argue on the basis of housing rights. Property rights can stop when people die because of bad housing, can't they? "

The Abbé Pierre Foundation has noted the "desperate" balance of the number of social housing units created under the Solidarity and Urban Regeneration Act for this year

The city of Paris has never allocated so much money to social fund housing. The mayor has allocated 281 million euros for this in 2023, up from 133 million two years ago. But our opportunities to acquire buildings are in neighborhoods where there is already a lot of very social housing, such as the XIII or XIX arrondissements. Naturally, the mayors of these''Neighborhoods also want mid-range social housing.

How do we act on this issue in the central districts?

As soon as the City of Paris Foundation can acquire empty buildings at less inflated prices in these districts, we do so. A vacant building is also the criterion of choice in determining the purchase of a building. The formula is simple: the more empty apartments, the more we acquire. And while social housing is very useful in reducing speculation in the real estate market, it is also necessary for housing to actually be occupied.

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