Developing housing: the puzzle for local authorities

The Minister for Housing with Christophe Rivenq, president of the Agglo d'Alès. Midi Libre – MICHAEL ESDOURRUBAILH

President of the Agglomeration of Alès, Christophe Rivenq questioned the Minister of Housing Guillaume Kasbarian on the constraints of the ZAN law against excessive construction.

Christophe Rivenq, president of the Agglomeration of Alès, was impatiently awaiting the meeting, in the premises of Midi Libre , with the new Minister for Housing. "I preside over a territory of 145,000 inhabitants, he began to explain. It is the 5th agglomeration in Occitanie, with a galloping population, since the only town of Alès, 45,000 inhabitants today, gains 1,000 more inhabitants per year. There is therefore a major housing issue in our city, whether it is social or not."

For him, the problem comes from the application of the ZAD law, passed in July 2023 and which imposes Zero net artificialization of soils."You know that by 2031 we only have 50% more space consumption compared to what we consumed between 2011 and 2021. And from by 2032, we will no longer be able to consume 1m², one hectare more, to fight against the artificialization of soils, which is a great objective, but which for dynamic territories like ours, will put us in the ;rsquo;inability to adequately welcome all those who today want to build a house or live in an apartment."

"Halve the rate of artificialization"

For the elected official, the major pitfall, "is what risks happening on building land, which will be hoarded, since wealth from 2031 will be those who own building land". He continues: "We built in 2023 the same number of housing units based on population as in 2050. How could we meet this ambitious objective, knowing that, by 2050, experts say that’ ;around 12 million would have to be built, how are we going to be able to reconcile ZAN, necessary constructions for residents and quality of life? We have to build on towers when we were made to destroy these towers ago some time ago ? How to do it ? We must reform this law and make it more applicable today". 

Guillaume Kasbarian recognized the difficulty, for attractive cities, in managing the equation. "It’s a demographic shock, which you have, which is very important. It is not the same in all departments of France. The ZAN law is a law resulting from the Climate and Resilience law, passed a few years ago, which aims not to prohibit construction, but to reduce, to halve, the rate of artificialization of territories. We adapted this law in 2023. We have notably withdrawn major national projects or large constructions of national interest, so as not to penalize the territories."

"The legislator gave powers to the Region"

In addition, "the legislator at the time also gave a lot of powers to the Region, to be able to allocate buildable hectares. It has, in fact, the possibility of giving more hectares to growing communities and a little less to territories where there are no factories being established, where there is no population growth." The minister recognized this: "It’s an important issue, building housing for people, but also having an agricultural conscience. We cannot talk about food sovereignty if we continue to artificialize fields. We have a challenge to build a little differently, it’s true that there is a question of elevation, of densification, which sometimes poses problems of acceptability, but which is probably inevitable in certain places where demographic tension is high and where there will be a big challenge in supporting local elected officials who will face sometimes very strong injunctions."< /p>

It must be said that the strategic objectives are "important, on agriculture, on housing, on densification, on renovation, on social diversity, etc. All these objectives must coexist even if they are sometimes difficult to hold together. But we can never say to ourselves that we will be able to build as before and “eat” agricultural land."

"A second wave of engaged territories"

Cédric Graille, general director of Altemed, which is responsible for social housing (25,000 housing units) in the Montpellier metropolis, regretted that " Montpellier was not selected among the 22 territories committed to housing", emphasizing the "depth of the social housing crisis". "If all real estate programs are blocked in France, there will be no more social housing", he insists. Guillaume Kasbarian revealed that a new wave of selection of committed territories could be decided. "We retained 22 territories engaged out of 63. I hope that there will be a second wave on the subject, he said . In the meantime, there is a bill in progress on degraded housing and large operations, which allows you to benefit from additional simplification and concrete acceleration measures for realize the shock of the offer."