It is a wish repeatedly expressed by the majority on the left since his arrival at the head of the city. Tuesday, November 29, the Minister Delegate for Housing, Olivier Klein, gave his approval to a rent control in Marseille, in order to better fight against housing difficulties in the poorest big city in France.
“I received the file last Thursday” et “I want to say here my agreement that we can regulate rents in Marseille”, declared the minister at the end of the first estates general of housing organized in the second city of the country. He assured that this request will be ” a priority “ of his administration.
Fight against unfit housing and poor housing
In France, rents are already regulated in Paris, in eighteen municipalities of Seine-Saint-Denis as well as in Lille, Montpellier, Bordeaux, Lyon and Villeurbanne.
The Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, led by Martine Vassal, has filed a file which provides for a rent control only in Marseille, not in the 91 other municipalities of the community, some of which, like Cassis, are popular seaside resorts. .
If it responds favorably to a repeated request from the mayor of Marseille, Benoît Payan, to fight against poor housing, the metropolis nevertheless fears that such a measure “don’t come to seize up the system even more” and in particular construction, while Marseille has 40,000 slums and as many requests for social housing pending.
During these estates general of housing, the left-wing municipality of Marseilles however showed that after the schools, it wanted to carry the housing project head on, which does not come under its direct jurisdiction. A direct sequel to the deadly dramas linked to unsanitary housing that have taken place in Marseille in recent years. In 2018, two dilapidated buildings collapsed on rue d’Aubagne, in the city center, killing eight people. In 2021, a fire in the degraded and squatted city of Flamingos killed three people.
This is “a moment of changeover in the mandate”said the deputy mayor on housing issues, Patrick Amico. “We are ready for enhanced and unprecedented cooperation between our two institutions”added the vice-president of the metropolis for housing, David Ytier.
About thirty proposals thus emerged from these two days of consultation. Among them, the “rental permit” – a device which makes it possible to check that the accommodation meets the standards – for the moment tested around the rue d’Aubagne, which could be extended to other central districts as well as for a test in some of the thirteen large degraded condominiums in the city.
Waiting for the local housing plan of the metropolis
However, the 2023-2028 local housing plan (PLH) is still missing – a crucial tool for establishing the housing strategy in a territory – which the metropolis promises to detail at the start of 2023. Communities should commit to a pace of construction of 11,000 housing units per year, around 40% of which in Marseille. A territorial rebalancing is also necessary on this territory known for its deficiencies in terms of social housing.
reminding “emergency” for the metropolis to have a PLH, the regional prefect, Christophe Mirmand, had indicated to Agence France-Presse that “the State calls for its adoption by the first half of 2023”.
“We want to include in the law a technical control of the habitat”also argued Benoît Payan on Tuesday, also demanding a strengthening of the penalties incurred by slum landlords or the possibility of expropriating in very degraded condominiums.
The minister promised without further details to submit these proposals within the broad consultation on housing launched Monday within the National Council for Refoundation (CNR) and desired by Emmanuel Macron.