- ATD Fourth World

Press Release,Paris, 4th October

ATD Fourth World asks everybody to write to their mayor in favor of the creation of social housing in all the cities, towns and villages in France. Given the quantitative reduction of the amount of social housing in France, ATD Fourth World calls for a civic mobilization and on the goodwill of mayors, supported by their fellow citizens.

A reduction in the social housing in the rental area in 2009

According to the Commissioner for Sustainable Development, despite declared ambitions for the construction of social housing, the proportion of social housing is still declining in France, down to 15.7% of total housing, compared to 16.5% in 1999. The demolition-reconstruction, the aging of low-rent housing (HLM in French) and the sale of social housing partly explain this drop that is even more dangerous when it comes to the number of houses financed through a form of housing subsidy (prêt locatif aidé d’intégration), these being the only social housing accessible to the most disadvantaged people.

A positive petition

Another obvious explanation of this tendency is the lack of construction in the field of social housing. This is why ATD Fourth World together with Secours Catholique and Amnesty International, reunited within the Comités solidaires pour les droits (Solidarity Committees for Rights) are launching today a campaign inviting citizens to write to their mayor in order to ask for the construction of social housing in their neighborhoods: "Yes to social housing – Mrs. Mr. Mayor, I support you."

This positive petition is meant to counter the threats (petitions, judicial procedures) that a big number of construction programs are facing, thus delaying the delivery of social housing by 5 to 10 years.

The second phase of the Statutory Law to Housing must include the mass construction of affordable homes, accessible to everybody in this country.

Press Contact: Typhaine Cornacchiari – 01 42 46 01 69

Sample Letter

Madam/Mr. Mayor,

More and more of our fellow citizens are living in the street in disgraceful conditions, acommodated by others, squatting, in hostels…with disastrous consequences for themselves and their family (employment, school access, health, social network…).

I am outraged by this situation and I am writing to you today to let you know that I shall support any of your initiatives that will increase the number of affordable homes to those with the lowest incomes in our town/village. More reason to do so is that State budgets for this building exist and, every year, they are left unspent. I will equally support you in your efforts to create suitable sites for travellers.

I wish to live in a town/village where families from all backgrounds live together and I would be very happy to welcome neighbours that wish to settle permanently or who were previously vulnerably housed. I consider that it is my responsibility as a citizen to avoid any risks of “ghettoization” between people that do not know each other and find it hard to trust one another.

Maybe even more echoes are reaching you from the people worried about the projects of social housing near their areas. This is why I wanted to come forward and to testify that people, among those whom you are representing, are in solidarity with the families experiencing difficulty lives.

Housing is a fundamental right written in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and I will support any initiative that you will undertake in order to try to respond to the requirements of the Statutory Law of Housing from 2007, that obliges the State to satisfy any housing demand of utmost importance.

I will support the initiatives that you will undertake to avoid lands becoming ever more expensive, which would prevent their purchase for the construction of social housing.

I will also support your efforts to increase, through the construction or the usage of existing housing, the number of houses truly accessible for the households with the lowest incomes.

Remaining at your disposal, I would like to thank you in advance for considering my request favourably.

Yours sincerely,

Name, address, signature

Copy to be sent to Réseau Solidaires pour les Droits, 33 rue Bergère, 75009 Paris.