Cour des Comptes warns of social housing allocation crisis in France

The Cour des Comptes has issued an alert regarding the complex and opaque processes involved in the allocation of social housing in France. A report titled ‘Facilitating the path to accessing social housing in the territories’ highlights a significant gap between supply and demand.

In 2024, 2.8 million total requests were recorded across the country, yet the social housing stock of 4.8 million units resulted in fewer than 400,000 allocations, representing only 8% of total requests. This shortage often forces applicants to wait several years for housing.

In the Hauts-de-Seine department, the situation is similarly strained; out of 128,761 requests, only 9,349 allocations were made, accounting for just 7.3% of demand. While reforms such as the National Registration System (SNE) and the Right to Housing (DALO) aimed to increase transparency and efficiency, the report suggests these measures are not being fully implemented due to fragmented responsibilities between the state, departments, and intercommunal authorities.