In a bill tabled on September 17, MP Jean-Luc Warsmann suggests that “the immediate proximity (of the social housing) to the workplace of a family member should be a priority criterion for the allocation of social housing.”
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– “Currently, proximity to the workplace is only one element within a set of criteria for allocating social housing,” regrets Jean-Luc Warsmann.
With 2.7 million people waiting for social housing, 100,000 more than a year ago, competition is fierce to obtain social housing. In a bill registered with the presidency of the National Assembly on September 17, the Ardennes MP Jean-Luc Warsmann (Freedoms, Independents, Overseas and Territories) suggests that “the immediate proximity (of the HLM) to the workplace of a family member is a priority criterion for the allocation of social housing”. An immediate proximity that Jean-Luc Warsmann defines by the possibility of going to work “on foot or by bicycle, or by a distance of less than one kilometer between home and the workplace”.
“Currently, proximity to the workplace is only one element within a set of criteria for the allocation of social housing”he regrets. The 2022 decentralization law has, however, set quantified targets for the allocation of social housing to so-called essential workers, operating in health, security or even food. But Jean-Luc Warsmann wants to go further.
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A financial gain coupled with an ecological advantage
“In areas where public transport is limited”and the Ardennes MP speaks with knowledge of the facts, “The ability for one member of a family to walk or cycle to work represents a great asset for its purchasing poweras he no longer needs a vehicle”he argues.
“In many areas, a couple needs two cars to get to work. My goal with this bill is to ensure that one member of the couple no longer needs their car to get to work.”explains the parliamentarian to CapitalHe also sees his text as an asset for companies located in territories undergoing reindustrialization, which struggling to recruit due to lack of housing. Not to mention the environmental benefit of replacing a car with a bicycle.
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A risk of discrimination from other HLM applicants?
But won’t the future government and the social housing organisations risk objecting to Jean-Luc Warsmann that he would thus favour the allocation of social housing to employees rather than to people more in need ? Fully focused on preparing for the HLM Congress, which will take place at the end of September, the Social Union for Housing, which represents social landlords, did not wish to “follow up” at the request of Capital.
“There is a whole France that works but which has seen its purchasing power decrease” in recent years, due to high inflation, recalls Jean-Luc Warsmann. “These employees have the right to be housed in the immediate vicinity of their place of work”he insists. The deputy says to himself “in the starting blocks” to have this bill examined during the parliamentary “niches” (slots) reserved for each political group in the National Assembly. Jean-Luc Warsmann is also ready to transform its text into an amendment to a bill which would soon be examined by Parliament, if that proves to be faster. For example, the bill on affordable housing, brought by the resigning minister Guillaume Kasbarian, which has not yet been able to be debated in the Senate, due to the dissolution of the National Assembly.
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