The fight against run-down housing in Paris - Report on measures carried out from 2002 to 2018

November 2020, last updated 01 March 2021
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From 2002 to 2018, the City of Paris and the State combined their resources to reduce insalubrity in Paris. A total of almost 2,200 buildings and 56,000 housing units were affected by numerous measures, associating public acquisitions and subsidies for rehabilitation work on private buildings.

Substandard housing building acquired by the public authorities

As from 2002, the City of Paris and the State together undertook the task of eradicating substandard housing on the Parisian territory, by devoting substantial resources and developing new treatment tools. This plan marks a turning point in the way of dealing with substandard housing conditions in Paris, notably by introducing an intricate work method : that stops dealing with entire areas in favour of operations on a land parcel scale, and gives preference to rehabilitation rather than demolition. It is also on an unprecedentedly wide scale: 1,000 buildings spread throughout Paris were identified in 2002 and 1,200 more buildings were included in the following years, as work progressed. This work was carried out by the specialised operators: Siemp, then Soreqa, Semavip and the operators OAHD and OPAH (Soliha and Urbanis). A total of almost 2,200 buildings and 56,000 dwellings benefited from these measures to combat substandard housing between 2002 and 2018. This study takes stock of the policy implemented over almost two decades.

In addition to the administrative police measures (notably insalubrity and peril orders), public authorities put in place two intervention strategies to address the problem. The 450 most degraded buildings were subject to public acquisition and were demolished and rebuilt, or heavily rehabilitated, in order to provide over 5,300 social housing units. The 1,700 other, les degraded buildings, remained private and were accompanied and subsidised to carry out 238 million euros of renovation work.

Even before the end of this plan, as early as 2008, Apur, in partnership with the City of Paris, developed an observatory to identify Parisian buildings that were becoming run-down. This preventive measure enabled an annual list to be drawn up of buildings “to be monitored” due to the risk of their deterioration, and also provided indicators for some of the City of Paris technical services to verify premises. At the metropolitan level, the fight against substandard housing, which remains an important issue, can benefit from the experience, know-how and tools developed during the implementation of Parisian measures. Such is the case with Soreqa, the specialised operator that works in both Paris, Montreuil, Est Ensemble, Plaine Commune, Paris Ouest La Défense and the Greater Paris - Métropole du Grand Paris -.

Infographie - Lutte contre l’habitat indigne à Paris - Bilan des actions menées de 2002 à 2018 © Apur

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