"Searching for the Grand Paris" "How can we avoid excluding the less privileged in the Grand Paris?" -Avoiding a mechanism that pushes less privileged people to the outskirts can be achieved primarily through the production of social rental property and more generally, accessible housing. In terms of accessible housing and homeownership, there are now affordable housing schemes available. But for the less privileged in society, in Île-de-France, social housing is the main solution. This means respecting the 25% social housing obligations and including, importantly, social housing in urbanization projects. The fact that the governmental boundaries are changing in this metropolitan area, with the Métropole du Grand Paris, with local authorities, with larger inter-municipalities in the outer suburbs, is likely to have an effect eventually, but these are always long processes. It is likely to promote more solidarity than there is currently in a system working a municipal level. "What changes can we expect in housing policy in the Grand Paris?" As is always the case with housing policy, on the one hand, we have the policies that want to be more proactive, on the side of the state and the inter-municipalities, and then on the other hand, we have economic behavior, optimization, whether from private developers, or from social housing organizations who are diversifying their product. If we want to implement successful urbanization projects, private developers need to be involved. They also need guaranteed clients to whom they expect to sell their housing. That said, in Île-de-France, we should not be too worried. It is not the same situation that we had in Saint-Étienne or in Nevers, so the private developers can expect relatively good sales figures. That said, this is not necessarily be the case throughout Île-de-France. There are certain areas, Seine-Saint-Denis, for example, even though they are on the Grand Paris Express route, where we'll have to wait a few years before these private developers come. Although I think, eventually, they will. We have seen it in the case of the Plaine Saint-Denis, where, eventually, they have seen the beginnings of a market. Certainly, it is not quite as evident in Clichy-Montfermeil, but, after a number of years, it will happen. The public authorities have to be patient. Urban planning projects should benefit from gradual implementation in order to function. There will be other sections that have no problems, where the social housing will have to face the property developers' evident hunger. One of the consequences of the changes in Île-de-France's governmental structure, and particularly in the inner suburbs, is that the local housing programs that have existed up until now whether local or inter-municipal, will gradually die out and will gradually be replaced if the Métropole carries on, by the metropolitan program for the environment and housing, or housing and the environment, I never remember, the PMHH, terrible acronym, which will have the same authority as the old local housing programs and will set out the policy for the urban area. So, we can think of it as one policy based on the idea of solidarity. And at the same time, there will be urban planning projects, which will be defined gradually by the regional governmental authority, which will move away from the local areas, and which will also, on a regional government level, develop the housing supply with that solidarity in mind. That is easy to say from a distance. Fundamentally, we know... We have had experience in lots of metropolitan areas in the region. This will be a lengthy process. Of course, traditionally, we seen have that many municipalities in the inner suburbs quickly built social housing before the establishment of the Métropole, to define the rules of the game during a few more years. So, this will take many years. And the first inter-municipal urban plannings from the EPT will probably look like a patchwork of the preexisting municipal urban planning. It is standard. I do not think we should believe that, from a legislation perspective, changing the way a government works will automatically introduce solidarity. There is always going to be resistance. What gives us hope is that we see that anywhere else, when we arrive at the second or third local housing programs or urban planning projects... We need to have patience. We are talking about policies that have been planned for the long term. This solidarity will appear. What is certain is that the status quo, as it has existed until the governmental change occurs, was not tenable in the long term.
