** Abdelkarim, who now sleeps in a roughly 15 square meter room with two other people, says: “The best solution is social housing. In Île-de-France, there’s a lot of people [who want it]. There aren’t many people who can get it.” **
If I understand this correctly, Mr. Abdelkarim is saying, “I’m here. You owe me a free house.” Is that right?
“The clampdown at Unibéton not only illustrates the staggering failures of the French state to welcome migrants and refugees”.
Why does the writer consider the state should welcome migrants and refugees? Building suitable accommodation where demand is already high (as illustrated by the high rentals that can be commanded) for people coming into a country at the expense of the existing inhabitants should not be the priority for the French state. Presumably the appalling accommodation and squats available to the migrants provide them a better life than was available in their countries of origin else they would have returned.
Those who would like to see the migrants better accommodated can always club together to pay for better accommodation themselves rather than expecting others in their country who don’t welcome more competition for jobs and accommodation to fork out through taxation.
NIck Brown
4 months ago
At no point does this article address the question of why these people are in Paris – or indeed, France; what they are refugees from and why they should have some sort of automatic right to remain.
It’s the same on the other side of the Atlantic. “Now that they’re here, how can we make their lives wonderful?” is the message that is broadcast throughout the world.
R Wright
4 months ago
I’d have enjoyed this article more if it had focussed more on the housing, Airbnb and poverty issues, not merely caricaturing a wannabe Jacobin piece by whining about squatters and illegal immigrants losing their free accommodation.
Agreed. My big take away from the opening couple of paragraphs was that Abdelkarim has been in France for three years and still can’t speak the language well. That’s more revealing than the author realises, I suspect.
Katharine Eyre
4 months ago
There needs to be a huge clampdown on AirBnB, especially in towns and cities where housing affordability is a critical issue. It’s a blight.
It also annoys me that it allows landlords to offer holiday accommodation without having to comply with the same laws & regulations that apply to other establishments like hotels, B&Bs etc. There should be a level playing field.
Finally, it’s unfair on other residents of houses with multiple units. If one (or several) units in the house are rented out on AirBnB, they have the risk of unknown people always coming in and out of the house – and those people don’t always behave well, leaving rubbish everywhere, making noise and (I’ve heard) being unpleasant towards the genuine residents.
AirBnB should be a win win for property owners and visitors to a town or village ensuring that accommodation that is available and would not otherwise be used enables travellers to stay at more reasonable rates than they would otherwise pay and in more interesting properties. Many of the laws and regulations applicable to hotels are totally inappropriate for someone letting out an extension to their own home or an ordinary flat or house.
The idea that much of the AirBnB accommodation would be available for ordinary long erm residents is unrealistic while regulations exist to make getting rid of unsuitable tenants a nightmare for landlords. A landlord who might be happy to let out an extension to their property or a flat or house that they temporarily don’t occupy on a short term basis is often reluctant to take on a longer term tenant that they can’t easily get rid of if they turn out to be unsuitable or unable/unwilling to pay on time and comply with the terms of the lease or they wish to repossess for some other reason.
It is the inflexibility and tenant favourable nature of much landlord and tenant legislation that makes AirBnB more attractive to many who only wish to relinquish property for a limited time with the ability to repossess when they wish to do so.
Of course, flats bought specifically to commercially rent out for AirB&B can be a blight on the neighbourhood and drive up accommodation costs but simply targeting AirBnB accommodation without providing flexibility for individual short rentals is not going to solve the problem of high housing costs.
Vienna introduced a limit of 90 days per year on short-term rentals of entire units which will come into effect next summer. It aims to keep the sharing economy going and allow landlord to do short-term lets without taking much-needed residential space off the market.
Seems sensible, but I have no idea how they will police and enforce the rule.
I still can’t stand AirBnB though and would not shed a tear to see it disappear, even though I know it won’t. It started off with a good idea, i.e. giving people with a spare room a chance to earn some extra cash, but then morphed into Frankenstein’s monster.
Ooo, yeah – I wish I could summon up some sympathy for landlords, I really do. But unfortunately, I’m part of a growing army of millennials and younger generations who will never own property and will be renting our entire lives, never being able to really set down roots (and people still wonder why birth rates are plummeting!). There’s some part of me which understands that property owning is a challenging lark, but sympathy? Sorry, you and your asset security are barking up the wrong tree.
I certainly didn’t wish to evoke sympathy for Landlords, who as you say are usually better off than most still renting, I simply wanted to highlight that regulating AirBnB out of existence may not produce more accommodation for long term tenants or lower the cost of such accommodation.
I do agree that commercial interests have to some extent morphed the original idea into something of a Frankenstein monster but that is the result of bad legislation downstream – in the UK at least.
Interesting to hear about Vienna’s approach. My wife and son enjoyed their recent visit to the city and commented on the cheapness and efficiency of the transport system in contrast to the high cost of museums and food. They stayed in a reasonably priced hotel you will be pleased to know!
What is wrong with sympathy for landlords? They provide a valuable social function (essential)
in the UK we’ve been pillorying landlords over the last few years and guess what they are leaving the market and the rental prices are going up as a consequence.
Investing capital and making money is a good thing not a bad thing
Agree with what you say. It was simply that my motive for writing was to point out the problem rather than evoke sympathy. Landlords don’t need sympathy just a system that makes it worth the hassle and risks of renting out their property.
I have just posted something regarding AirBnB which has gone straight into Awaiting for approval. Rather bizarre.
Charles Stanhope
4 months ago
Are they really going to sanitise Saint-Denis? If so that is simply splendid news!
Saint-Denis houses perhaps the most impressive building in
medieval France if not Europe, the former Royal Abbey of Saint- Denis. Here in the mid twelfth century Abbot Suger experimented with what would later be called ‘Gothic’ architecture when he rebuilt the Choir*. The Abbey was also the necropolis or burial place for nearly all the Kings of France, it also held all the paraphernalia for the Coronation, Crown Orb, Sword etc plus the great war banner of the French, the ‘Oriflamme’. Additionally most Queens of France were crowned**here. Even to this day the 18th century claustral buildings of the Abbey accommodate the prestigious Legion d’Honneur school (girls only).
The fact that this wonderful place has been allowed to become a carbuncle on the backside of Paris is nothing short of a national disgrace. Now at last salvation is in sight!
(*Completed 1144, although Sens might challenge this!)
(** Kings crowned in Reims.)
The thing is, the French pay lip service to the idea of kings. Anyway, we get a new one every 5 years( or ten if he pulls off a new term ) nowadays, a lot less messy than 1793.
Had St Denis burned 4 years ago, it would have caused a lot less commotion than Notre Dame. It’s nice for tourists to wander around Île de la Cité, much less around St Denis if you cherish your dear life. The place is a slum with this cathedral standing in the middle of it. Although Macron in one of his deliriums called it once the new California. This place is really odd, at the same times it houses the best cardiological hospital in the country.
How true. The Abbey is very splendid and historic but, alas the surroundings…… It is as though Westminster Abbey were located in the middle of Peckham.
I wondered what was wrong with having Westminster Abbey located in Peckham apart from being a bit off the beaten track for tourists until I checked the statistics. Majority black and Asian population and a high violent crime rate – no necessary connection of course.
Billy Bob
4 months ago
“In Paris, it’s impossible to find housing for less than €400 [a month]“
Surely this should be €400 a week in Paris? The median rent in NZ works out around €350 a week, most youngsters here would give their right arm to only be paying €100 a week in rent.
A “ Chambre de bonne “ or maid bedroom, right under the zinc roof, communal toilets, about 9 sqm ( that’s the legal minimum ) rents for 600 eur a month in my neighbourhood…….no shower…….and the tenant is happy as a clam not believing his luck. Just to show you how bad it is.
That’s no worse than NZ. I just had a rough search on the countries main property advertising site and there are only 10 properties in the whole of Auckland that are available to rent at that price. I’d hazard a guess London is just as bad as well
I lived in New Zealand and the comparison doesn’t stick. Even your 10 properties in Auckland wouldn’t offer the squalid conditions these Maid rooms offer.
J. Hale
4 months ago
Chad is the destination for refugees from war torn Sudan. So why does someone from Chad get to move to France? France needs better immigration laws and they need to enforce them.
Bruno Lucy
4 months ago
Airb’nb is a plague but the author conveniently forgets to mention that City Hall is already limiting the number of days owners can rent ( 120 days a year) A lot of apartment owners refuse to see their buildings turned into a wheeling suitcase paradise and a lot of body corporate simply forbid it……like in my building. In my view, it should simply be forbidden, period.
But getting back to the article…..I am baffled to read somebody who most certainly is illegally in the country has claim to social housing when low income people born in the country ( my cleaning lady for example ) can’t even get one after having lost their private rental ending up in a years long waiting list and having in the meantime to live far away from where they work. As to gentrification……far from it. Have a look at Porte de la Chapelle where a new Calais is now what local residents have to put up with watching the value of their dwelling heading south. Even the posh 16 th arrondissement has become a drug dealer paradise like Porte de Saint Cloud. Have a look at the Trocadéro ……and most of all ….be careful. Right across the river from there…..the Eiffel Tower is somewhere I would not spend a minute of my time. Paris has just become a filthy mess and there is plenty to be done before spending millions in a useless Olympic game.
Clamping down on illegal immigration would already be a good start we are not about to see when other countries like Sweden, Denmark…….and even guilt ridden Germany are changing their tunes. So we end up playing musical chair with these people, shifting them from towns to villages in the country where nobody wants them.
Personally, I wish we didn’t get the Olympic Games in Paris. We need this like a hole in the head in a city already soooo difficult to live in and the mess it will be is already written on the wall.
Paris also bid for the 2012 Games. I was hoping they would win as it would avoid us having the expense and problem of redundant structures post Games. Selfishly, I was hoping to catch some of the sailing as Le Havre is just a ferry ride away for me!
However, I’m glad to say the London Games went exceptionally well. The main stadium has a tenant and the park looks great. Bon chance to Paris!
Christopher Barclay
4 months ago
I think the potential for riots and terrorism is the greater issue. Terrorism is perhaps the explanation why so many Christmas fairs and carol services are being cancelled in the UK.
Michael McElwee
4 months ago
The “better handling of people?” Who said there is a better way? To assume there is a better way is to assume there are never too many people. And is this not precisely what the EU assumes?
Surely the next stop is Calais followed by 5 star accommodation in the UK?
Tyler Durden
4 months ago
The paradox of locating a new business park centred on the national sports stadium on the outskirts of one of the poorest towns in France. The interest for international visitors has been balanced by social tension and overpolicing of events within this troubled ‘banlieue’ (public housing-based suburb of a major urban centre in France).
For the logic persists that Paris the museum city should be preserved without alteration for global tourism. Much peripheral ghettoism persists as a consequence which can’t help but overspill and menace these logics of major international spectacle.
Rick Frazier
4 months ago
The professionalism of the Olympics makes it a mostly unnecessary sporting event. Viewership has steadily declined ever since professional athletes were allowed to compete. It proves to be an economically bad decision for cities to host this event. Some sectors of the ecoonmy will benefit, e.g., construction industry, trade unions, lodging, but overall it will be a net loss. It’s a sure bet the ultimate cost will be much higher than initial projections, draining funds that could otherwise be used to alleviate some of the city’s existing problems.
Last edited 4 months ago by Rick Frazier
J S
4 months ago
Social housing and rent controls limit supply and drive prices up. If governments were serious about affordable middle class housing they would phase these out.
** Abdelkarim, who now sleeps in a roughly 15 square meter room with two other people, says: “The best solution is social housing. In Île-de-France, there’s a lot of people [who want it]. There aren’t many people who can get it.” **
If I understand this correctly, Mr. Abdelkarim is saying, “I’m here. You owe me a free house.” Is that right?
Two would be better..
“The clampdown at Unibéton not only illustrates the staggering failures of the French state to welcome migrants and refugees”.
Why does the writer consider the state should welcome migrants and refugees? Building suitable accommodation where demand is already high (as illustrated by the high rentals that can be commanded) for people coming into a country at the expense of the existing inhabitants should not be the priority for the French state. Presumably the appalling accommodation and squats available to the migrants provide them a better life than was available in their countries of origin else they would have returned.
Those who would like to see the migrants better accommodated can always club together to pay for better accommodation themselves rather than expecting others in their country who don’t welcome more competition for jobs and accommodation to fork out through taxation.
At no point does this article address the question of why these people are in Paris – or indeed, France; what they are refugees from and why they should have some sort of automatic right to remain.
Exactly. The author writes:pressure on the housing market, affecting not just refugees, but also students and working-class residents.
The order and emphasis is clear here and working class Parisians are clearly the least of his concerns.
It’s the same on the other side of the Atlantic. “Now that they’re here, how can we make their lives wonderful?” is the message that is broadcast throughout the world.
I’d have enjoyed this article more if it had focussed more on the housing, Airbnb and poverty issues, not merely caricaturing a wannabe Jacobin piece by whining about squatters and illegal immigrants losing their free accommodation.
Agreed. My big take away from the opening couple of paragraphs was that Abdelkarim has been in France for three years and still can’t speak the language well. That’s more revealing than the author realises, I suspect.
There needs to be a huge clampdown on AirBnB, especially in towns and cities where housing affordability is a critical issue. It’s a blight.
It also annoys me that it allows landlords to offer holiday accommodation without having to comply with the same laws & regulations that apply to other establishments like hotels, B&Bs etc. There should be a level playing field.
Finally, it’s unfair on other residents of houses with multiple units. If one (or several) units in the house are rented out on AirBnB, they have the risk of unknown people always coming in and out of the house – and those people don’t always behave well, leaving rubbish everywhere, making noise and (I’ve heard) being unpleasant towards the genuine residents.
I agree with every word of this, it needs eradicating from society
AirBnB should be a win win for property owners and visitors to a town or village ensuring that accommodation that is available and would not otherwise be used enables travellers to stay at more reasonable rates than they would otherwise pay and in more interesting properties. Many of the laws and regulations applicable to hotels are totally inappropriate for someone letting out an extension to their own home or an ordinary flat or house.
The idea that much of the AirBnB accommodation would be available for ordinary long erm residents is unrealistic while regulations exist to make getting rid of unsuitable tenants a nightmare for landlords. A landlord who might be happy to let out an extension to their property or a flat or house that they temporarily don’t occupy on a short term basis is often reluctant to take on a longer term tenant that they can’t easily get rid of if they turn out to be unsuitable or unable/unwilling to pay on time and comply with the terms of the lease or they wish to repossess for some other reason.
It is the inflexibility and tenant favourable nature of much landlord and tenant legislation that makes AirBnB more attractive to many who only wish to relinquish property for a limited time with the ability to repossess when they wish to do so.
Of course, flats bought specifically to commercially rent out for AirB&B can be a blight on the neighbourhood and drive up accommodation costs but simply targeting AirBnB accommodation without providing flexibility for individual short rentals is not going to solve the problem of high housing costs.
Vienna introduced a limit of 90 days per year on short-term rentals of entire units which will come into effect next summer. It aims to keep the sharing economy going and allow landlord to do short-term lets without taking much-needed residential space off the market.
Seems sensible, but I have no idea how they will police and enforce the rule.
I still can’t stand AirBnB though and would not shed a tear to see it disappear, even though I know it won’t. It started off with a good idea, i.e. giving people with a spare room a chance to earn some extra cash, but then morphed into Frankenstein’s monster.
Ooo, yeah – I wish I could summon up some sympathy for landlords, I really do. But unfortunately, I’m part of a growing army of millennials and younger generations who will never own property and will be renting our entire lives, never being able to really set down roots (and people still wonder why birth rates are plummeting!). There’s some part of me which understands that property owning is a challenging lark, but sympathy? Sorry, you and your asset security are barking up the wrong tree.
I certainly didn’t wish to evoke sympathy for Landlords, who as you say are usually better off than most still renting, I simply wanted to highlight that regulating AirBnB out of existence may not produce more accommodation for long term tenants or lower the cost of such accommodation.
I do agree that commercial interests have to some extent morphed the original idea into something of a Frankenstein monster but that is the result of bad legislation downstream – in the UK at least.
Interesting to hear about Vienna’s approach. My wife and son enjoyed their recent visit to the city and commented on the cheapness and efficiency of the transport system in contrast to the high cost of museums and food. They stayed in a reasonably priced hotel you will be pleased to know!
What is wrong with sympathy for landlords? They provide a valuable social function (essential)
in the UK we’ve been pillorying landlords over the last few years and guess what they are leaving the market and the rental prices are going up as a consequence.
Investing capital and making money is a good thing not a bad thing
Agree with what you say. It was simply that my motive for writing was to point out the problem rather than evoke sympathy. Landlords don’t need sympathy just a system that makes it worth the hassle and risks of renting out their property.
I have just posted something regarding AirBnB which has gone straight into Awaiting for approval. Rather bizarre.
Are they really going to sanitise Saint-Denis? If so that is simply splendid news!
Saint-Denis houses perhaps the most impressive building in
medieval France if not Europe, the former Royal Abbey of Saint- Denis. Here in the mid twelfth century Abbot Suger experimented with what would later be called ‘Gothic’ architecture when he rebuilt the Choir*. The Abbey was also the necropolis or burial place for nearly all the Kings of France, it also held all the paraphernalia for the Coronation, Crown Orb, Sword etc plus the great war banner of the French, the ‘Oriflamme’. Additionally most Queens of France were crowned**here. Even to this day the 18th century claustral buildings of the Abbey accommodate the prestigious Legion d’Honneur school (girls only).
The fact that this wonderful place has been allowed to become a carbuncle on the backside of Paris is nothing short of a national disgrace. Now at last salvation is in sight!
(*Completed 1144, although Sens might challenge this!)
(** Kings crowned in Reims.)
Charles, your naivety is very refreshing. It will remain exactly as it is
I hear there are plans to rebuild the NW Tower, do you happen to know anything about this?
NW ‘?? As ??
So the resting place of French kings is now a slum. I suppose the Marxists got what they wanted.
The thing is, the French pay lip service to the idea of kings. Anyway, we get a new one every 5 years( or ten if he pulls off a new term ) nowadays, a lot less messy than 1793.
Had St Denis burned 4 years ago, it would have caused a lot less commotion than Notre Dame. It’s nice for tourists to wander around Île de la Cité, much less around St Denis if you cherish your dear life. The place is a slum with this cathedral standing in the middle of it. Although Macron in one of his deliriums called it once the new California. This place is really odd, at the same times it houses the best cardiological hospital in the country.
How true. The Abbey is very splendid and historic but, alas the surroundings…… It is as though Westminster Abbey were located in the middle of Peckham.
I wondered what was wrong with having Westminster Abbey located in Peckham apart from being a bit off the beaten track for tourists until I checked the statistics. Majority black and Asian population and a high violent crime rate – no necessary connection of course.
“In Paris, it’s impossible to find housing for less than €400 [a month]“
Surely this should be €400 a week in Paris? The median rent in NZ works out around €350 a week, most youngsters here would give their right arm to only be paying €100 a week in rent.
A “ Chambre de bonne “ or maid bedroom, right under the zinc roof, communal toilets, about 9 sqm ( that’s the legal minimum ) rents for 600 eur a month in my neighbourhood…….no shower…….and the tenant is happy as a clam not believing his luck. Just to show you how bad it is.
That’s no worse than NZ. I just had a rough search on the countries main property advertising site and there are only 10 properties in the whole of Auckland that are available to rent at that price. I’d hazard a guess London is just as bad as well
I lived in New Zealand and the comparison doesn’t stick. Even your 10 properties in Auckland wouldn’t offer the squalid conditions these Maid rooms offer.
Chad is the destination for refugees from war torn Sudan. So why does someone from Chad get to move to France? France needs better immigration laws and they need to enforce them.
Airb’nb is a plague but the author conveniently forgets to mention that City Hall is already limiting the number of days owners can rent ( 120 days a year) A lot of apartment owners refuse to see their buildings turned into a wheeling suitcase paradise and a lot of body corporate simply forbid it……like in my building. In my view, it should simply be forbidden, period.
But getting back to the article…..I am baffled to read somebody who most certainly is illegally in the country has claim to social housing when low income people born in the country ( my cleaning lady for example ) can’t even get one after having lost their private rental ending up in a years long waiting list and having in the meantime to live far away from where they work. As to gentrification……far from it. Have a look at Porte de la Chapelle where a new Calais is now what local residents have to put up with watching the value of their dwelling heading south. Even the posh 16 th arrondissement has become a drug dealer paradise like Porte de Saint Cloud. Have a look at the Trocadéro ……and most of all ….be careful. Right across the river from there…..the Eiffel Tower is somewhere I would not spend a minute of my time. Paris has just become a filthy mess and there is plenty to be done before spending millions in a useless Olympic game.
Clamping down on illegal immigration would already be a good start we are not about to see when other countries like Sweden, Denmark…….and even guilt ridden Germany are changing their tunes. So we end up playing musical chair with these people, shifting them from towns to villages in the country where nobody wants them.
Personally, I wish we didn’t get the Olympic Games in Paris. We need this like a hole in the head in a city already soooo difficult to live in and the mess it will be is already written on the wall.
Paris also bid for the 2012 Games. I was hoping they would win as it would avoid us having the expense and problem of redundant structures post Games. Selfishly, I was hoping to catch some of the sailing as Le Havre is just a ferry ride away for me!
However, I’m glad to say the London Games went exceptionally well. The main stadium has a tenant and the park looks great. Bon chance to Paris!
I think the potential for riots and terrorism is the greater issue. Terrorism is perhaps the explanation why so many Christmas fairs and carol services are being cancelled in the UK.
The “better handling of people?” Who said there is a better way? To assume there is a better way is to assume there are never too many people. And is this not precisely what the EU assumes?
Surely the next stop is Calais followed by 5 star accommodation in the UK?
The paradox of locating a new business park centred on the national sports stadium on the outskirts of one of the poorest towns in France. The interest for international visitors has been balanced by social tension and overpolicing of events within this troubled ‘banlieue’ (public housing-based suburb of a major urban centre in France).
For the logic persists that Paris the museum city should be preserved without alteration for global tourism. Much peripheral ghettoism persists as a consequence which can’t help but overspill and menace these logics of major international spectacle.
The professionalism of the Olympics makes it a mostly unnecessary sporting event. Viewership has steadily declined ever since professional athletes were allowed to compete. It proves to be an economically bad decision for cities to host this event. Some sectors of the ecoonmy will benefit, e.g., construction industry, trade unions, lodging, but overall it will be a net loss. It’s a sure bet the ultimate cost will be much higher than initial projections, draining funds that could otherwise be used to alleviate some of the city’s existing problems.
Social housing and rent controls limit supply and drive prices up. If governments were serious about affordable middle class housing they would phase these out.