The (enforceable) right to housing: a paradoxical French passion

Abstract

In France, an enforceable ‘right to housing’ (Droit au logement opposable) was enacted in 2007. Since its rapid approval by Parliament, the law has been criticised for its apparent ineffectiveness to improve housing conditions. A superficial analysis might suggest that the law was merely the product of emergency. Nevertheless, a study of the decision-making process, and of the dynamics of the agenda-setting from at least 1990, shows that the enforceable right to housing was adopted as a result of a complex and long policy development path, with many players involved at different levels of the policy system. The rise of the right to housing, the origins of the law and the interplay of actors leading to its adoption are presented in the first section of this review. The second part focuses on the period preceding the adoption of the law and the ‘policy window’ that made it possible (2005–2007). The third part develops the three main challenges that the actors supporting the ‘right to housing’ have to face, and presents an analysis of the political meaning of the law. The final part reflects on the options open to the new socialist government (since 2012).

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