François Rochon: The HLM Model: Social Housing in Contemporary Housing Policy in France

The demographic profile of social housing estates is becoming increasingly disadvantaged, against a backdrop of political tension, particularly between the right to housing and social diversity. The growing influence of local authorities in housing policy has not, however, diminished the debate taking place at national level. What is the contemporary role of social housing in France: should it focus on housing the most disadvantaged or on housing as many people as possible?

This question relates to the French social model and the republican pact. What is the French social housing model, and how does it fit into the country’s social model? In practical terms, what role do social housing organisations play in contemporary housing policy, within what system and from what perspective? The aim of this research is to describe the social housing model in its specific French context, particularly through its national stakeholders and in relation to contemporary housing policy.

To this end, the first part outlines housing policy, providing an overview of housing policy with a focus on social housing. The first chapter sets out the key components of the ‘model development’. The second chapter analyses the ‘system dynamics’ of housing, drawing in particular on some of the work carried out by the Research Network on the Socio-Economics of Housing during the 1990s and early 2000s. The third chapter examines the ‘political significance’ of contemporary housing policy, highlighting three complementary approaches at national level and analysing how the European dimension is taken into account.

This section raises questions about the role of national stakeholders in shaping housing policy in France. It also offers an explanation for the lack of major systemic reform over the past few decades. For this reason, the second part presents a study on the representation of social housing, based on some sixty interviews with a sample of key figures in the field of social housing: the Prime Minister, ministers, MPs, senior civil servants in ministerial offices, senior executives in the social housing sector, local councillors, experts and journalists. This study seeks to understand how the housing sector and social housing are organised.

To this end, the fourth chapter describes the ‘national social housing landscape’ through a biographical analysis, from which three main positions emerge: political, administrative and practitioner. The fifth chapter examines the discourses of the actors and identifies 19 items describing the ‘justifications for the functions’ of social housing. Finally, the sixth chapter studies the combination of these items in the ‘formalisation of conceptions’, enabling five complementary ones to be distinguished, which only partially overlap with the actors’ positions.

Finally, the general conclusion highlights the prominence of items with inherently ambiguous meanings in these representations, and the relatively limited focus on knowledge regarding the housing system, thereby helping to provide an overview of housing policy in France.

Composition of the jury

• Mr Jean-Pierre LEVY (CNRS) Thesis supervisor
• Mr Yankel FIJALKOW (ENSA Paris Val-de-Seine) Co-supervisor
• Mr Xavier DESJARDINS (Sorbonne University) Rapporteur
• Ms Claire LEVY-VROELANT (University of Paris 8) Rapporteur
• Mr Emmanuel BELLANGER (CNRS) Examiner
• Ms Catherine BONVALET (INED) Examiner
• Mr Patrick LE GALÈS (CNRS) Examiner
• Mr William LE GOFF (Federation of Public Housing Authorities) Guest