2023-12-19 19:30:28
It is difficult to measure the economic impact of the conditioning of this aid paid to foreigners, on which the majority and LR have agreed.
This is the last point of friction between the majority and the right which almost derailed the joint committee (CMP) on the immigration bill: personalized housing assistance (APL) paid to foreigners. Intended to help low-income households pay the rent of their main residence, these benefits are now accessible to all foreigners in a legal situation, in the same way as the French. But there is a lack of data to measure the economic impact of allowances conditional on a minimum duration of presence in the territory – which is what the majority and the Republicans (LR) agreed on.
Paid by the Family Allowance Fund (CAF) or the Mutualité sociale agricole (MSA), APLs benefited a total of 2.7 million households at the end of 2021, according to the most recent data from the Research and Studies Department , evaluation and statistics (Drees), the statistical service of the Ministry of Health. And this, for a distributed amount of 6.7 billion euros in 2021, specifies the National Family Allowance Fund (Cnaf). By adding the two other existing housing aids – the family housing allowance (ALF) and the social housing allowance (ALS) – the number of beneficiaries reaches 5.7 million, for 15.1 billion euros. Households receiving average aid of 215 euros in 2021, calculates the Drees.
If the administrative department gives details of the characteristics of the recipients of this aid according to age, family situation or status with regard to housing (tenant, homeowner, etc.), there is no trace of the distribution by nationality, between French and foreign beneficiaries. Proof of the sensitivity of the subject. However, despite the criticisms attached to ethnic statistics in France, “For a long time now, public statistics have been producing a wide range of data which are used to understand the diversity of the population, to measure inequalities, sometimes discrimination, etc.», specified INSEE on his blog in 2020.
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10% of Caf beneficiaries are foreigners
This lack of information was notably deplored at the end of 2021 by Éric Zemmour. Then a presidential candidate, he denounced the “terrible opacity of social services, of Caf, who do not want to give the information we need to know the amount» allowances paid to foreigners. The current president of the Reconquest! repeated during the campaign that his measure of removing “non-contributory social benefits» paid to foreigners would bring in 20 billion euros to the State.
At the time, Cnaf still agreed to provide some more global figures, providing an overview of the benefits received by foreigners in France. The fund indicated that in 2019, foreigners represented 13% of the total amount of benefits it had paid, including housing assistance (including APL), solidarity benefits (RSA, activity bonus, etc.) and those related to childhood and family (family allowances, childcare benefits, etc.). Or around 12.3 billion euros out of the 94.6 billion euros distributed in 2019 by the Caf. On the profile of the beneficiaries of its benefits, Cnaf specifies that in 2019, 10% of benefit recipient households were foreign nationals, out of a total of 13.5 million benefit recipient households. So around 1.3 million. But it is impossible to know the precise share of APL and their beneficiaries.
Created in 1977, this housing assistance is granted to French people and foreigners, but the latter must be in a regular situation, which means having a title or document which allows them to reside on French territory (residence card, resident…). “The more precarious the residence permit is, for a shorter period, the less people have access to social benefits. However, there is a tendency to give foreigners increasingly precarious documents.», Underlines Lola Isidro, lecturer in law at Paris Nanterre University. For French people as for foreign nationals, APLs are granted subject to resource conditions. Its amount depends in particular on income, the number of dependents, place of residence, as well as the amount of rent.
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