emocratic candidate Zohran Mamdani was elected mayor of New York on November 4, after a campaign focused on the cost of living, everyday life for residents, and above all, housing. In a city where real estate prices are out of reach for many, his promises to freeze rents on regulated apartments and build affordable housing helped secure his victory.
In France, too, the crisis caused by the housing shortage is creating enormous expectations. Seven out of 10 French people say it has become difficult to find housing in their city or town, according to an Odoxa poll published on November 18. While citizens ranked purchasing power as their top priority, housing exceeded all other expenses by a wide margin. Housing accounted for a third of household income – over the past 20 years, housing prices excluding inflation rose by 88% while average wages increased by only 13% between 1996 and 2023. And yet this issue remains absent from political debate.
"It is a technical, complex topic, and it plays out over the long term, while politics is increasingly about the short term," said Valérie Létard. The former housing minister nonetheless considers it "essential" to provide a political response to the housing crisis "which prevents people from pursuing studies, starting a family, accepting a job requiring relocation, which fuels general discontent and, indirectly, the vote for the far right."
