The Alpes-Maritimes Department has more than one million inhabitants, largely concentrated along the coastal strip. With an emerging conurbation from Menton to Cannes, the dense coastal population creates a tense situation around housing…
The numbers don’t lie. The latest censuses indicate that 25.3% of the Department’s housing units are secondary or occasional residences, compared to 9.9% on average in mainland France. Add to this the 8.4% of vacant housing units, and you have Nice as the most expensive city in France for new properties (compared to fourth place for older properties). This situation partly explains the shortage of social housing and the high rents in the private sector.
With 44,000 requests waiting for 4,100 allocations, it must be said that the pressure on social housing is one of the highest in France. As a result, working poor individuals and families find themselves now forced to sleep in cars or even on the streets.
Crowded Apartments
17.8% of residents occupy homes that are too small for the size of their household. In terms of overcrowding, the Côte d’Azur region takes the silver medal after Paris. This phenomenon is particularly pronounced in the priority city policy districts. For example, in Ariane (Nice-East), 33% of the housing is overcrowded.
Contrary to the 25% recommended by the SRU law (Editor’s note: Solidarity and Urban Renewal), the Alpes-Maritimes have less than 12% social housing. The issue is further aggravated by a poverty rate above the national average. In the department, more than a quarter of tenant households live below the poverty line.
In response, numerous associations, such as Secours populaire 06 and the Abbey Pierre Foundation, are protesting. The Fédération du PCF (French Communist Party) of Alpes-Maritimes proposes that the prefect undertake requisitions of housing to address emergency situations. They are also calling on elected officials to take measures on the taxation of second homes in order to encourage owners to open up the rental market for vacant apartments.
