How France overcame NIMBYism to create affordable housing

In 2000, France passed the “Loi relative à la Solidarité et au renouvellement urbains” (SRU). The legislation, or “law on urban solidarity and renewal,” required most cities to dedicate 20% of their housing stock to affordable housing, and imposed penalties if they didn’t comply.  The move represented a return of control over housing policy to the centralized government, after being left to regional authorities for years.

France, like many other wealthy countries with expensive housing markets, has struggled to build enough affordable housing for low-income residents. Despite funding extensive social housing projects, most relegated low- and middle- income communities into distant suburbs. Deprived of the critical services enjoyed by wealthier neighborhood such as better access to transport, work and transport, people living in these communities, called banlieues remained trapped in a cycle of poverty.

The new law promised to disrupt this dynamic, rebalancing affordable housing between cities, and deliver city services to everyone.

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