Bayrou Government: is Housing at risk of being downgraded to the rank of delegated ministry?

Having become a full-fledged ministry in the Barnier government, what place will Housing occupy in that of François Bayrou? The question arises as the hypothesis of a “major ministry including housing” flourishes, which could fall to the former socialist mayor of Dijon, François Rebsamen.

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First-time buyers, will you see the zero-interest loan finally extended to the entire territory and to individual homes in 2025? Parents and grandparents, will you be able to give money to your children and grandchildren next year to buy a new home, with the assurance that these donations will be exempt from transfer taxes free of charge? Supported by Housing Minister Valérie Létardthese two measurements – “which she went for with her teeth in front of Bercy”praises Olivier Salleron, president of the French Building Federation – were to see the light of day with the promulgation of the finance law for 2025.

But the censorship of the Barnier government put an end to the examination of the draft 2025 budget by Parliament. Suitable for reviving household real estate investment, undermined by credit rates still above 3%, will these measures be taken up by the future government Bayrou in a new finance bill?

François Rebsamen, author of a report on the revival of construction

Housing professionals hope so. In “a rare unanimity towards a minister”says a seasoned observer of the sector, they are therefore calling for the maintenance of Valérie Létard in the government that the new Prime Minister, François Bayrou, is currently putting together. Certainly, the Minister of Housing, a former UDI (Union of Independent Democrats) MP, shares the social sensitivity of the president of Modem (Democratic Movement). And it would be supported by the president of the Senate, Gérard Larcher, and by the president of the centrist Union group in the Upper House, Hervé Marseille, according to a good expert in the sector.

But, to limit the risks of further censorship of the government by a fragmented National Assembly, François Bayrou must give guarantees to the parties of the left and the right. The former socialist mayor of Dijon, François Rebsamenwho has just handed over to his first deputy, could thus enter the government, within a “very large ministry, regional planning or communities or even ecological transition, including housing”according to our expert in the sector. “I hear this noise”adds a source within a professional federation. Didn’t François Rebsamen, who had not responded to our request at the time we published these lines, chair a commission in 2021 on the revival of sustainable housing construction, at the request of the Prime Minister? minister at the time, Jean Castex? “His arrival in government would be good news”approves another housing professional.

Competition for the post of Minister of Housing

The problem is that within such a super-ministry, Housing would be reduced to the rank of delegated ministry, which is less convenient for winning budgetary arbitrations against Bercy, while Valérie Létard is a full minister, which has not happened for seven years. In fact, according to a list allegedly “very confidential” which, as with each new government, circulates on social networks, Valérie Létard would be “minister for housing and energy renovation”and François Rebsamen minister “territories, partnerships, local authorities and decentralization”.

Would Valérie Létard accept this demotion if she was reappointed? And will she be? “Caution»we whisper to those around us. For the position of Minister of Housing in the Bayrou government, “Valérie Létard will be in competition with Bruno Millienne, current spokesperson for Modem and housing specialist, as well as with Lionel Causse”member of Ensemble pour la République and former president of the National Housing Council, adds one of our sources. A few more hours, or even a few days, and the issue will be determined on the fate of housing in the Bayrou government. The Prime Minister will unveil it before Christmas, he said on Thursday.