84th HLM Congress in Montpellier: Banque des Territoires launches new financial mechanisms for the benefit of social landlords

Eric Lombard, CEO of the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC) held a conference this Wednesday at the HLM Congress. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

Eric Lombard, CEO of the Caisse des Dépôts, and Olivier Sichel, director of its banking subsidiary, presented the tools at the HLM Congress, which is being held at the Parc des Expositions in Montpellier.

It is time for mobilization: the housing crisis, and particularly social housing, is putting social landlords to the test. The new measures presented on Wednesday, September 25, at the 84th National HLM Congress, held at the Parc des Expositions in Montpellier, by the Caisse des Dépôts and its subsidiary Banque des Territoires, constitute a response to emerge from this crisis.

“In the crisis affecting the housing world, the countercyclical role of the HLM sector is essential”, recalls Eric Lombard, CEO of the Caisse des Dépôts (CDC). It even plays a role "of ’crisis absorber", in which “the housing world would be at a complete standstill”, if it were not for “the investments of social housing organizations”.

A €5 billion envelope “to meet short-term needs”

It is to respond to this crisis that the Banque des Territoires, which depends on the CDC, has developed new financing mechanisms for the benefit of the latter. Shortly before the summer, it launched the Duoz loan, with a budget of 5 billion euros, intended to “meet short-term needs”, but also “support the acceleration of the rate of investment in the social housing sector”.

At the same time, in collaboration with the State and Action Logement, it is providing social landlords with an envelope of €140 million in “High-balance sheet loan”, intended to “support green construction and the transformation of existing assets into housing in compliance with the Zero Net Artificialisation (ZAN) objectives”.

The dilemma of social landlords: deciding between building and renovate

"Social landlords face the following dilemma: undertake a thermal renovation of their housing, which is expensive, and the need to continue to build new housing", explains Olivier Sichel. Especially since in about ten years, the cost of a renovation “has doubled”.

“Thanks to the financial support of the Duoz system, lessors can, without delay, start construction very quickly”, maintains Eric Lombard. The Banque des Territoires supported, through its financing in 2023, the construction of 75,000 new homes and the renovation of 70,000. This is “unfortunately” insufficient, when studies show that 100,000 would need to be built per year.