The municipalities of Nîmes Métropole confronted with the SRU law which fights against the lack of social housing

Le conseil communautaire de Nîmes Métropole a abordé la question délicate pour les communes des logements sociaux. MIKAËL ANISSET – Midi Libre

Le conseil communautaire de Nîmes Métropole a abordé lundi 25 mars la question de l’application de la loi SRU qui oblige les communes à construire un nombre minimum de logements sociaux.

Under the SRU (Solidarity and Urban Renewal) law, the municipalities of Nîmes Métropole with more than 3,500 inhabitants must have 25% of social housing available by 2025, especially if they are included in a territory as populated as the Agglomeration. This Monday, March 25, during the community council, this system and the amount of penalties for cities which were in deficit or deficient were discussed.

It amounts to 828 212 € in 2023, which allowed the Agglo to redistribute this sum for current production and for the reconstitution of the demolished social rental offer. A necessity for the elected official of Nîmes, citizen on the left, Christian Bastid: "When the country sinks into a housing crisis, times are hard for more modest."

Géraldine Rey-Deschamps, vice-president responsible for housing and urban renewal, indicated during the vote on this deliberation the difficulties &quot ;linked to the health crisis, to the scarcity of land which are not specific to our territory". When the rate of social housing is lower than the  rsquo;objective set by law, it is said that this municipality is in deficit.

In 2023, these are Clarensac, Garons, Milhaud, Nîmes and Saint-Gilles. On the other hand, cities which do not meet their three-year catch-up objective "may be the subject of a deficiency order issued by the prefect of Gard", depending on the Agglo.

Eight deficient municipalities

Bouillargues, Caissargues, Caveirac, Générac, Manduel, Poulx, Redessan and Marguerittes are among the deficient municipalities. For the city of Marguerittoise, the amount of penalties even amounts to 175,000 euros, including 122,784 euros; donated to Nîmes Métropole. In 2024, the amount will rise to 225,000 euros. Although he is not against the SRU law, Rémi Nicolas, mayor of Marguerittes, would like this system to be less restrictive for the municipalities which have started the right dynamic to build more social housing.

The elected official discusses his difficulties in responding to the more than 300 requests for social housing: "We must catch up 20 years behind schedule because we have a social housing rate of 7%. We would have to build half a city with 2,000 housing units. We are launching programs with 30% social housing. […] It’s all the more complicated as it takes ten years to launch a Zac operation and develop the land. In this time frame, it is not possible to let go of 2 M€ !" A problem that speaks to many Gard mayors.