Given the especially worrisome social environment that accents the deterioration of the situation of people living in inadequate housing in France, the upcoming report of the Fondation Abbé Pierre will closely examine the following themes: the situation of the aging population, the significance of territorial exclusion, and the analysis of public policy regarding the DALO housing rights law.

The increase in the aging population raises many questions for those involved in the housing sector. Those at the current old age minimum live below the poverty line (European norms), and among those excluded, the elderly find themselves singled out in greater numbers. Their situation invariably leads to a reorganisation of their lives and a new relationship with their living conditions. When economic resources and self-sufficiency decrease, where and how does one find a place to live? Those are the questions the Fondation Abbé Pierre chose to ask and examine.

On the other hand, the research undertaken in earlier reports has allowed establishing that populations and housing are scattered in given territories according to various parameters: accessibility to employment hubs, level of social ability, urban geography, school services, etc. Its conclusions reveal that those affected urban areas with concentrations of inadequate housing, where the poor and families of modest means live, are often the most stigmatised. Nowadays, the suburbs attract a population subjected to the housing crisis only to reinforce socio-spatial segregation.

Such areas act as snaring nets: areas designed to take in the most deprived and from which it becomes extremely difficult to extricate oneself…

Finally, two years after the announcement of its institution, we have the first elements to ponder the hopes raised by the DALO housing rights law and the range of public policies since its implementation.

Strengthened by these early analyses, the Fondation Abbé Pierre will draw up new proposals to help solve an acutely pressing social situation with regards to accessibility and subsistence in housing, as well as the risks of a worsening situation…