“Not for me, the social housing»»you tell yourself. Not because you don’t want to do so but because you are convinced not to be entitled to it. Yet, 70% of households French are eligible for an HLM, assures the National Agency for the Control of Social Housing (ANCOLS). You still have to be able to get one. In 2024, only 14% of applicants obtained a social housing, a proportion down from a point compared to 2023, underlines the Social Union for Housing (USH), during a press conference, this Tuesday, September 16.
10 years ago, a little over a quarter (26%) of the applicants won an HLM … The equation is simple: on the one hand, a demand that continues to swell, on the other, a production of new housing which is struggling to keep the pace, due to the degradation of the finances of social landlords and the imperatives of energy renovation.
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Soon 3 million HLM applicants
As of June 30, the USH identified 2.8 million applicants social housing, or 100,000 more in six months. And, out of these 2.8 million applicants, only 900,000 already live in the social park. The balance of 1.9 million has never set foot there. “A few years ago, it was 100,000 more applicants over an entire year, not on a semester”alert Emmanuelle Cosse, president of the USH, invoking a “Increasing impoverishment of workers and the narrowing of the private rental fleet”due to the difficulties of home ownership and the multiplication of regulatory and tax constraints for private investors.
The USH certainly notes an upturn in the construction of HLM, with 100,000 dwellings produced in 2025 but “It would take 10,000 to 15,000 more”, Estem Emmanuelle Cosse. “We will eventually reach the 3 million applicants”Prognostic Marianne Louis, Director General of USH.
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If only 14% of HLM requests are now satisfied, this rate, known as “success”, varies however according to household profiles. It is higher, around 16% to 17%, for single -parent familiesthe young people of under 30 and private employees. On the other hand, it falls between 10% and 12% for single people, retirees and the unemployed.
“”The income remains decisive“, Analysis the USH. Indeed, the poorest households, which earn less than 500 euros per month, and, at the other end, those with the highest incomes, greater than 2,000 euros monthly, have the lowest success rates, at 7% and 11% respectively, while it is 15% for households with intermediate income, between 500 and 2,000 euros. “The housing offer at very low renteven after deduction of personalized housing assistance (APL), remains insufficient “recognizes the USH.
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Housing difficulties everywhere in France
You are also more likely to get an HLM if you are newcomer to the social park. People already tenants of an HLM and who want to change it show a success rate of 12%, against 15% for those who require social housing for the first time. “The tenants of the social park are less priority in the allocation policies”explains the USH. Please note, if you are a tenant in the private park, the probability of winning an HLM does not exceed 12% while it reaches 16% if you occupy a official accommodation And 17% if you are hosted by a third party.
Your chances of winning an HLM are not the same either according to the region In which you live: they are 32% in Burgundy-Franche-Comté but only 7% in Ile-de-France and 9% in Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur, where the demand for housing exceeds the available offer. Emmanuelle Cosse nevertheless believes that the differences between tense and relaxed areas is: “There crazy crisis in housing access concerns all regions, all socio-professional categories ”. According to her, local elected officials are now going so well “The immensity of the housing problem” that on the eve of the 2026 municipal elections, “We see, unlike the polls from previous years, mayors who want to launch new housing construction programs”.
