A nomination that raises questions. Vincent Jeanbrun, deputy (LR) for Val-de-Marne and former mayor of L’Haÿ-les-Roses, became Minister of City and Housing in the second government of Sébastien Lecornu, this Sunday, October 12.
However, the elected official is the subject of a preliminary investigation, opened in 2024, for “illegal appropriation of interests” and “theft or misappropriation of property from a public warehouse.”
This was opened on September 2, 2024 by the Créteil prosecutor’s office. The councilor-turned-minister is suspected of having granted sumptuous official accommodation at generous rents to two close aides, his chief of staff and his city chief of staff. These are two 150 m² homes with a rent of €750 per month. The Anticor association presented a report.
The Créteil prosecutor’s office confirmed to BFMTV, this Monday, October 13, that the investigation “continues within the same investigation service”, the Financial and Anti-Corruption Brigade (BFAC).
According to the Créteil prosecutor’s office, the investigation opens more broadly for the illegal taking of interest by an elected official in a matter whose administration or supervision he guarantees, the concealment of assets resulting from the illegal taking of interest by an elected official in a matter that he manages or supervises, misappropriation by the depositary of public authority: improper exemption of duties, taxes or taxes, the concealment of assets resulting from misappropriation by exemption from duties, taxes or taxes by the depositary of the public authority and theft, misappropriation or destruction of property from a public depository by the depositary of the public authority or one of his subordinates.
“This is not a joke.”
His appointment sparked protests among opposition members. “This is not a joke: in the housing of this ephemeral government we will have Vincent Jeanbrun. He is currently the subject of an investigation for illegal appropriation of interests in the allocation of housing…”, wrote in X the deputy (LFI) François Piquemal.
For Insoumis Bastien Lachaud, deputy for Sena-Saint-Denis, “Vincent Jeanbrun, new Minister of Housing, is nothing more than an ideologue with a baton of command.” “The French have nothing to expect from him,” lamented deputy (RN) Frederic Falcon.
Contested proposals
Author of controversial proposals for popular neighborhoods, the new Minister of City and Housing, Vincent Jeanbrun, is also far from achieving unanimity in the sector, which urges him to act quickly in the face of the real estate crisis.
In June he presented a “suburban plan”, with around twenty proposals, including security measures to fight crime. In addition, he called for the end of “social housing for life.”
Vincent Jeanbrun took up ideas from former Housing Minister Guillaume Kasbarian: excluding families of criminals from social housing, prohibiting the payment of rent in cash, limiting the proportion of social housing per municipality to 30% or even setting a deadline for the sale of social housing to the private sector.
“False good ideas that demonstrate a lack of understanding of the needs of social housing,” according to Iñaki Echaniz, PS deputy for the Pyrenees-Atlantiques. And “ultraliberal proposals” that would “further aggravate an already terrible real estate crisis”, according to Jacques Baudrier, PCF deputy in charge of housing at the Paris City Council, dismayed by this appointment.
The National Housing Confederation (CNL), a tenant defense association chaired by the elected leader of Lille and communist Eddie Jacquemart, considers this appointment as “a provocation for the entire sector.” The CNL subsidiary in Val-de-Marne adds that its “past guidelines raise fears that a policy will be maintained that benefits investors more than tenants and low-income families.”
Source: BFM TV
