2023-12-19 17:43:23
A major point of tension, the question of the payment of personalized housing assistance, in the Immigration bill, has continued to divide within the joint parliamentary committee. But what exactly does this service cover? And who exactly is entitled to it? We take stock in four questions.
How does this help work?
Personalized housing assistance, well known as APL, is intended to reduce the amount of rent. It can be allocated to tenants, sub-tenants or residents of a home (Ehpad, independent residence, student residence, etc.). The aid is paid for a single main residence (i.e. the tenant must occupy it for at least 8 months per year) and located in France. To date, you can benefit from the APL if you are French or a foreign national. The main condition is to have a valid residence permit.
This benefit is paid each month by the family allowance funds (CAF, for the general scheme) and the agricultural social mutuality funds (MSA, for the agricultural scheme). According to Directorate of Research, Studies, Evaluation and Statistics (Drees), 6.7 million households received housing assistance at the end of 2020, including 44% an APL. The latter have a lower standard of living than the general population, with 1,190 euros monthly on average, compared to 1,950 euros on average.
Under what conditions is it awarded?
To qualify for this aid, two conditions must be met. The first concerns the accommodation itself. The dwelling must meet certain “criteria of decency and minimum occupancy conditions”. Clearly, the accommodation must have a minimum surface area, an absence of risk for the health of the tenant or even certain equipment (sanitary installation, drinking water supply, etc.). The home must also meet certain environmental standards. If it meets these criteria, the accommodation is then “approved” and makes it possible to pay housing assistance.
Another condition, the amount paid from the APL depends on the household’s resources. All the people who make it up (cohabitant, PACS partner) are taken into account over the last 12 months. A simulator is available to future applicants. Please note, however, that an applicant cannot receive the APL if the accommodation belongs to their family. Likewise, people attached to a tax household who pay tax on real estate wealth cannot receive this assistance.
Who receives it?
Households receiving housing assistance (APL or ALF for family housing allowance) are “younger, more feminine”, and with “an over-representation of single-parent families”, points out a 2019 Drees study. Unsurprisingly, a large proportion of beneficiaries are faced with the poverty rate: 40% of beneficiaries compared to 14% for the entire population, according to the same study. Finally, nearly 9 out of ten beneficiary households rent their main residence. That is 2.5 times more than in the general population.
If the question of the share of foreign beneficiaries of APL crystallizes tensions, particularly on the right, this proportion remains difficult to determine today. Of the 13.5 million social assistance recipients in France, only 10% are households of foreign nationals, whether European or non-European, specifies the National Family Allowance Fund (Cnaf).
What could change?
The question of paying APL to foreigners has been the subject of heated discussions in recent days within the joint committee. The presidential camp and the LR have not hidden their divisions on the issue. The right wanted to condition access to this aid for foreigners on five years of residence, 30 months for those who work. A toughening that the LR elected officials believed they had obtained from Élisabeth Borne. “The majority will not give in” on this point, the leader of the Renaissance deputies, Sylvain Maillard, insisted again on Tuesday morning.
However, an agreement was reached a few hours later between the government and the Republicans. This compromise specifies the deadline to which foreigners must comply in order to receive this aid. In detail, foreigners in a legal situation who are not working would have to wait five years before being able to receive them. Those who work could, on the other hand, receive the APL after three months of waiting. The article in question has been “reserved” and will not be examined immediately, parliamentary sources said.
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