All four of the social housing projects for the 16th arrondissement have been suspended after locals mobilised and took to the courts
Lizzy Davies in Paris
On the western outskirts of Paris, nestling between the greenery of the Bois de Boulogne and tree-lined Hausmannian grandeur, a building site lies strangely still in the sunshine and birds settle on the freshly cleared land. Though the permit proclaims the imminent birth of a complex of apartment blocks, the graffito daubed on the metal barriers tells a different story. It reads: "Here 135 HLM".
In this most chic of Parisian neighbourhoods, where a fifth of the inhabitants qualify for wealth tax because they have assets exceeding €790,000 (£688,000) and the streets are dotted with Jaguars and sumptuous villas, the acronym HLM – meaning housing at moderated rents – is not a common sight. And, as the city hall attempts to make social accommodation more of a feature of the seizième's manicured landscape, it is realising it has a fight on its hands. The residents are in revolt.
In recent months, all four of the social housing projects envisaged for the 16th arrondissement – including the one by the Bois de Boulogne, which plans to create 135 extra flats for people in need of affordable housing – have been suspended after locals mobilised and took to the courts. While they deny their outrage has anything to do with fears about their future neighbours – and everything to do with "bizarre" architectural styles and the preservation of green spaces – others are not so sure.
"These are fallacious arguments," said Jean-Yves Mano, housing spokesman for Paris city hall and the local opposition Socialist councillor. "They just don't want to have people in social housing around them. It is as if they don't want people from the banlieue invading the 16th and disturbing the peace and security".
In a recognition that housing is vital to efforts to fix the French capital's chronic geographical and social divide, the city aims to boost the proportion of HLMs from 16% to 20% by 2014. That will require an extra 6,000 logements a year. The authorities are keen for the genteel western and central parts of Paris to take their fair share. At the moment, however, just 2.5% of the seizième's housing is social. In the north-eastern 19th arrondissement, the figure is 35%. Link
