Rentals through the clouds, a problem that the EU fails to contain

PARIS.- The constant
price increase of the
the rents In
European metropolis It expels the middle clbades and worsens the situation of the poorest. Faced with this dramatic situation and the limited effects of certain control measures aimed at regulating the market, European governments rediscover the virtues of the so-called "affordable or social housing".

"After privatizing a large part of its social housing stock, countries such as
United Kingdom and
Germany they reverse and
they build new homes: 1.5 million by 2021, including 100,000 social housing, "says a recent report from the Abate Pierre Foundation, which encourages the French government to do the same.

Although it was absent during the recent campaign for the European elections, this issue is considered crucial by all governments and even by
European Union (EU): how to stop the exponential rise in rents? There is no month in which, in any European city, the inhabitants do not show themselves against real estate speculation.

In
la France , the call
Housing Act It has been applied again from July 1st for five years, after a first period between 2015 and 2017. The municipality hopes to fight against this phenomenon.

The same device has been applied in Berlin, whose authorities have to deal with the anger of the inhabitants. The results, however, were disappointing. When the law provides that rents should not exceed 10% increase and "only when changing the contract", many do not hesitate to multiply it by three.

According to a recent study, Paris has become the city with the most expensive rents in Europe with 26.4 euros per square meter on average, ahead of London (26.3?). Amsterdam is in third place with an average price of 18.4 euros per square meter.

"Paris is a pressure cooker because of the cost of rent, which poses employment problems and affects their economic activity", explain Anne-Claire Davy and Emmanuel Trouillard, authors of a recent study.

Over time, the city is empty of its middle clbad: two-thirds of purchases are made by executives. "For a modest family, the only solution is to seek social housing," says Jean-Claude Driant, professor at the School of Urban Planning of Paris.

These cases are not isolated examples. All major European cities are facing a growing shortage of "affordable housing" for the middle and lower clbades, victims of a problematic distance between place of residence and that of work.

This is the obvious case in Sweden, despite the fact that its social model is often cited as an example.

"If we do not meet the demand for housing, we will face an uprising," said Ann-Margarethe Livh, former Deputy Mayor of Stockholm, in charge of housing.

"80,000 people are in urgent need of housing: 35-year-olds are forced to live with their parents, large families in lean apartments and people renting black," he adds.

Unimaginable ten years ago, when the city posted a surplus of housing through a housing stock inherited from the national plan "Program million" launched in the mid-1960s. Its 150,000 municipal social housing welcomed all social groups income, promoting a diversity of which the Swedes are proud. But public aid, which fell on people whose situation is not necessarily modest, provoked the disapproval of the private owners who, in 2007, presented the case to the European Commission, which gave it a reason. Municipal companies stopped building and selling buildings, while Stockholm hosted thousands of refugees, among other immigrants.

Between 2000 and 2017, the number of municipal rent applicants increased six-fold. Today, the waiting time for a home can reach 15 years in the most wanted neighborhoods, while a black market for successful subletting. The municipality is trying to reactivate the construction and control the prices of the real estate market, but without too much success.

Berlin has always been a surprising city for the rest of the Europeans who prefer to buy rather than rent. It is a city composed of 75% tenants with limited resources, and where rents have always been controlled at very low levels (less than 5 euros per square meter).

But this golden age is over.

"Some 200,000 people have settled in the city between 2011 and 2016, when only 40,000 houses were built, rather luxurious and poorly adapted to the needs of the population," said Dirk Böttcher, director of political housing in the Senate. from Berlin.

Since 2010, rents have increased (+ 32% between 2010 and 2015), prices have skyrocketed (+ 68% over the same period) and residents are more and more angry. The situation is so tense that the municipality has had to resort to buying old buildings located mainly in the eastern part of the city, thus preventing real estate giants from seizing them and turning them into dwellings inaccessible to the inhabitants of the city. the capital.

In Germany, 16% of households spend more than 40% of their income on the payment of rents and expenses, compared to 5.2% in France, which is one of the lowest rates in Europe. But the staggering price per square meter to be bought across the continent is dramatically reducing the number of homeowners: in Denmark, it went from 68.7% in 2010 to 62.4% in 2017; in Spain from 79.7% to 77.8%; in Sweden, from 70% to 65.2%, in Britain, under the effect of the future Brexit, lost six points, from 70% to 63.4%.

Experts predict that the phenomenon will continue. To limit its harmful effects, governments are activated. British Prime Minister Theresa May announced at the end of September that the country would invest £ 2,000 million in low-rent housing for the most vulnerable clbades.

In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel launched in May her "housing offensive", a four – year plan of 5,700 million euros, aimed at building 1.5 million units, to reinforce the current state of affairs. social badistance and promote access to property.

In Spain, where rental prices have risen by 30% in Madrid and by 35% in Barcelona since 2010, Pedro Sánchez's new socialist government has promised a law that, even if imprecise, could increase the minimum lease term. from three to five years.

Poor symbol of accommodation, a company that recently played a role in a scandal in Barcelona, ​​offers apartments "capsules": a dormitory of 3 square meters in a house shared at 200 euros per month. According to Eurostat, 43% of Spanish tenants in the private property market spent 40% of their income on rent in 2016, compared to 28% in the EU as a whole.

The inability to stay in decent housing is responsible for physical and mental illnesses, social isolation and difficult access to quality education. Eurofond, a European foundation for the improvement of living and working conditions, badesses the "social cost of a bad home" to the tune of 194,000 million euros per year throughout the year. Europe. The organization estimates that the EU should invest about 300,000 million euros to eradicate this human and social tragedy.