There is no national solidarity “when you are a bully”: the Housing Minister wants all criminals evicted from social housing

The Minister of Cities and Housing, Vincent Jeanbrun, indicated this Thursday that he wanted to expand the fight against squatting and go beyond the law on drug trafficking to evict social housing tenants considered criminals.

Adopted in April, the law on drug trafficking provides that a prefect can request a judge to evict from his accommodation any person whose actions related to drug trafficking activities disturb public order. This law “has made great progress” and has produced “its first effects,” said Vincent Jeanbrun on CNews/Europe 1.

But the Minister wants to “do work” to “ensure that this applies beyond the simple issue of drug trafficking”, using as an example “someone who regularly steals cars, who damages equipment, who threatens, etc.”

“Social housing is national solidarity that offers a family that could not afford private housing that we have finally co-financed for their housing. When we traffic, when we are bullies, I think we lose the right to this national solidarity,” he defended, assuming that this implies evicting entire families.

“Protect the owner”

Regarding housing squatting, Vincent Jeanbrun (ex-LR), former mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses (Val-de-Marne), believes that “a blind spot” still exists, despite the 2023 law of former Housing Minister Guillaume Kasbarian.

“The anti-squatter law already allows you to have strong tools when someone enters your house illegally,” but “if the person enters the home legally (…) we are obliged to go through the judge, it takes time, the winter break applies, etc.,” he explained, in reference to the cases of tenants who had a rental contract and short-term tourist rentals.

The minister, suspended by his party after entering the Government, wants to start working “with the parliamentarians” with a view to a law that corrects this “legal ruling” and “protects the owner.” Squatting, frequented by owners, is a recurring topic in public debate, especially this summer with cases of illegal occupation of accommodation rented through tourist platforms.

The phenomenon remains marginal: according to Le Figaro, which consulted a ministerial note from August 2024, between September 2023 and May 2024, 432 eviction requests were registered by 27 of the 96 French prefects. In comparison, according to the Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged, there were 350,000 homeless people in 2024, while INSEE recorded 3.1 million empty homes the previous year.