A highly sensitive issue, social housing is once again on the agenda for the municipal election debate.
What is the outcome at the end of the term of the current municipal majority in light of Christian Estrosi’s promise to build 5,000 new social housing units during the 2008-2014 mandate?
When the new municipal team took office in 2008, there were 11.5% social rental housing units listed in Nice, totaling 21,312 units. The latest available figures (as of January 1, 2013) show a total of 22,794 units, or 12.29%. This is still far from the 20% target set by the law for 2020.
Let’s now turn to the management of Cรดte Azur Habitat, the city’s main social housing provider, whose assets have decreased instead of increased, due to at least two questionable policy directions of the presidency: the sale of housing units despite the severe shortage and the uncompensated demolitions from ANRU renovation operations carried out in Ariane and Les Moulins.
A systematic increase in rental rates was implemented from 2008 to 2014, resulting in a cumulative increase of 10%, which amounts to approximately one additional month’s rent.
Finally, the allocation of housing is strongly criticized by the opposition due to a certain lack of transparency in the activities of the allocation committee chaired by the president of Cรดte d’Azur Habitat.
Furthermore, the Interministerial Mission for Inspection (MILOS) in its December 2011 report notes that “The CAL’s internal regulations do not specify objective allocation criteria and do not establish a rational selection process for candidates. It appears that the selection of files to present to the committee cannot be justified, and consequently, this may lead the CAL to discretionary allocations.”
Beyond political conclusions (“discretionary” could be interpreted as favoritism by some), the question remains: Why is nothing being done to address this grievance?
