2023-07-07 13:14:00
CEO of the Nexity real estate group (14% market share in France and 1,600 housing units built in 2022, including a thousand in the Var and the Alpes Maritimes) since January 1, Véronique Bédague, at the Aix Economic Meetings, is launching an appeal to the State in the face of the urgency of the housing crisis.
Have you been warning regarding the need for construction for a long time?
Yes, we have been facing a problem of insufficient supply for the past ten years, which has intensified since the last municipal elections. There is resistance from our fellow citizens to densification. We estimate that to deal with the subject of cohabitation in particular, with young adults old enough to leave the family home, or divorces, but also poor housing, we would need 500,000 new homes per year, new or renovated. This year 375,000 have been launched and in 2024 at the rate we are going it will be more like 250,000…
Is the place of the new important to meet this need?
Yes, Nexity built 20,000 homes in 2022 and this year we have not yet communicated the figures. The new, even if it represents only 1% of the existing, allows the market to breathe. Currently people move little. We realize, in our Studéa residences, that students no longer return the keys in summer, for example. There are few rentals and with the implementation of the “resilience and climate” law there will be even fewer. The subject is becoming tense, I have been saying it for a year. France has registered 100,000 additional applicants for social housing in 2022 because the people who occupy them can no longer leave to access the private market.
what are the solutions?
The state must regain a role. Since the beginning of the quinquennium there has been no more speaking out on the subject while President Macron was speaking at the start of his emancipation mandate, but housing is one of the factors that favor it or not. Ms. Borne, however, spoke before the National Council for Refoundation where she made a few announcements which I think should be accelerated. She said that the State must engage in a dialogue with local authorities, I want to say yes, it’s here and now. We must agree to open all the debates, including financial ones. local taxation today is terrible: a mayor who wants to have more resources is obliged to hit the property tax! It’s a vicious circle. We must also make communities face up to their responsibilities. There are some where we no longer build at all. It is a problem. Ms. Borne announced an extension of all the measures concerning intermediate housing. The zoning must be extended to 200 communities either which have been the subject of operation Coeur de ville, or because the government wants to reindustrialize them. The government must release this list of 200 municipalities now. She also talked regarding reviewing the tax regime for those who rent accommodation. The rate of return is not competitive today for individuals who rent. I want to say what are we waiting for? Time is running out, I expect decisions at the end of July. There is an urgent need to act for the French and for an entire economic sector as well. I estimated in October that 160,000 jobs were threatened in the construction industry.
Some communities, such as the country of Fayence in the Var, have put a stop to construction, is it a shortcut?
It’s a shortcut, but at the same time they have a subject, it must be treated. I prefer a rant now, it is also their responsibility to say that if we install new neighborhoods under current conditions, at some point there will be a water problem. All our professions are changing, we have been interested in the problem of energy for 4 years and I told my teams to take an interest in water. There are plenty of things to do: collect rainwater, be more economical… We have a great company called Véolia (of which I am a member of the board of directors), on the reprocessing of water by example where you have to speed up. Today we are looking at start-ups, we have to industrialize this, there are a lot of things to do on daily water consumption too, we haven’t looked enough at the subject of water until now .
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