Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu arrives at the Place de la Préfecture des Bouches-du-Rhône as part of his visit to Marseille on April 23, 2026. THIBAUD MORITZ/AFP
Despite the severity of the French housing crisis, there had been no indication in recent months that the government would introduce legislation to boost construction or reform the rules for allocating public housing. The announcement, during Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's visit to Marseille on Thursday, April 23, of a "housing stimulus" bill came as something of a surprise.
The prime minister also wants to move quickly, submitting the bill for a first reading in the Sénat "by summer," and aiming for a vote before the end of the year. "The prime minister has found a way forward," said an adviser at the Housing Ministry. "After recent discussions, it was decided to introduce a standalone bill on housing, rather than simply including a housing chapter in the decentralization bill."
Back in January, Lecornu had set a target of building two million homes by 2030 – "100,000 more per year than are currently being built," he said. The ambition has now grown broader, most notably with the launch of the third program of the National Agency for Urban Renewal (ANRU), known as ANRU 3, for the 2030-2040 period. Around 150 disadvantaged neighborhoods, "those most affected by security issues," will be renovated or rebuilt. This time, the plan will not focus solely on large public housing complexes but will also target, for 20% of projects, "medium-sized cities and sub-prefectures." The government also wants to address the "major problems" these neighborhoods face, such as "drug trafficking or access to health care, since medical desertification is not limited to rural areas," said the prime minister.
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