This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

Desperate French Government Threatens To “Requisition” Vacant Buildings

testosteronepit's picture




 

Wolf Richter   www.testosteronepit.com   www.amazon.com/author/wolfrichter

Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault made it official: the government would requisition vacant buildings regardless of who owned them, including office buildings. It would then convert them to apartments and make them available to the homeless and the “badly housed.”

As a first step, he asked for “an inventory of available buildings.” That list should be on his desk in “a few weeks,” he said. He was in a rush to identify these properties “so that we can undertake at least several operations in January and February 2013.” A desperate move to halt the collapse of his numbers. And another broadside at investors.

It’s getting tough for him and President François Hollande. As France sinks deeper into its economic mire, people are losing patience: those who still have confidence in Hollande plunged to 36%, the lowest level of any president six months after taking office (the data go back to 1981). He dropped to 31% among workers —a catastrophe for a Socialist—and to 21% among shop keepers, artisans, business owners, and CEOs [they’d already stirred up the pot: A Capitalist Revolt in Socialist France].

And Prime Minister Ayrault hit 34%. Among his predecessors, only Édith Cresson in 1991 and Alain Juppé in 1995 were lower. Both were sacked, Cresson 11 months into her term, and Juppé two years into his. Only 19% of the shop keepers, artisans, business owners, and CEOs had any confidence in him—despite his “gaffe” that he would be open to discussing the 35-hour workweek to bring down the cost of labor, which was followed by furious backpedaling from the entire Socialist power structure. Among workers, his confidence level dwindled to 29%. An untenable position. He should be polishing his resume.

Instead, he’d requisition buildings.

With his announcement, he backed Housing minister Cécile Duflot. She’d already pointed at the “seriousness of the situation” and declared—as the first major cold wave imposed additional risks on the homeless—that she’d study the possibility of requisitioning vacant buildings for the purpose of converting them into housing for the homeless and the “badly housed.”

To preempt the conservative opposition from having public conniptions, she dragged their former standard-bearer Jacques Chirac out of the closet. Back in 1995 when he was still mayor of Paris, he requisitioned, “as everyone remembers,” about 1,000 offices and apartments.

Requisitioning buildings and apartments is a tactic for all sides of the political spectrum. The law that authorized it was passed in 1945 to deal with the post-World War II housing crunch. And during the 1960s, over 100,000 requisition orders were issued.

Advocacy groups such as Jeudi Noir (Black Thursday) and Droit au Logement (Right to Housing) have been pressuring the government to do something about the “housing crisis.” To make a public point, they chose a famous symbol as backdrop for their press conference: 1a, Place des Vosges—a building of 1500 sq. meters (16,000 sq. ft.) that has been vacant since 1965.

I used to live not far from there and walked through the Place de Vosges a lot, always wondering why someone would allow such a valuable property to remain empty. At the time, it was visibly going to heck. Yet it’s in an awesome location, facing the garden in the middle of the square, with galleries and cafés on two sides, and no traffic—an immense luxury in Paris. Members of Jeudi Noir squatted that building for a year until they were removed in 2010, a highly mediatized affair.

Instead of doing his utmost to encourage private sector construction, Prime Minister Ayrault has jumped on the bandwagon of the squatters, sending shivers down the spines of those who invest in real estate development and construction. With perfect timing: just when France desperately needs that business to pick up speed—not only to create sorely needed housing units, but also to create jobs [Worse than the Infamous Lehman September: France’s Private Sector Gets Kicked off a Cliff].

Unemployment is over 10%, youth unemployment over 25%. In disadvantaged areas, such as a number of volatile suburbs, unemployment is far higher. For example, in Clichy-sous-Bois, an eastern suburb of Paris, unemployment is 22%, and youth unemployment is astronomical. The pressure in these areas is rising. They’ve blown up before. Jobs would relieve some of it. But requisitioning buildings and scaring investors won’t.

To counter ugly economic trends that started while Nicolas Sarkozy was still president, the government has re-unearthed the catchword “competitiveness”—entailing the cherished and untouchable 35-hour workweek, equally untouchable wages, and sky-high employer-paid payroll charges. An explosive mix. And it just blew up. Read.... Attack On France’s Sacred Cow.

 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Thu, 11/01/2012 - 23:25 | 2939957 Herkimer Jerkimer
Herkimer Jerkimer's picture

This, in the future, will be remembered as one of the bellweathers of what will be called the rapid slide into socialist fascism.

 

OJO

V-V

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 04:28 | 2940278 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

Made me laugh. Made me think of that 'american' hero, hockey player, who boycotted your typical 'american' president, Obama.After a couple of centuries, this 'american' hero discovered that the US government grew big enough to rob.

No fabled past, no devolution into something else.
What is operating is plain and obvious 'americanism'

The slipping 'american' middle class simply has it hard that they might be thrown on the wrong side of 'americanism'

'Americans' make special cases of themselves, and the world should operate differently when it comes to themselves.

Trouble, trouble, hard landing with the reality of 'americanism' which due to depletion of resources, can no longer entitle that many 'american' middle classers.

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 09:47 | 2940862 ElvisDog
ElvisDog's picture

You really need to do a better job of regulating your meds. You are reminded of a story that occurs 200 years from now?? Some hockey player will live to be over 200 years old? You attribute Hollande's actions to "americanism"? Perhaps insanity is a comfort to you, so carry on.

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 11:12 | 2941220 donsluck
donsluck's picture

I think AnAnonymous is computer generated.

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 19:21 | 2943199 Parrotile
Parrotile's picture

Might agree with you there - but quite a sophisticated astroturfing system, and obviously capable of fine tuning to elicit maximal responses.

To AnAnonymous  -apologies if you are a "real" person, but your strategy does seem to have a common feature set to the systems being developed by former colleagues "in a Certain Government Organisation" known as GCHQ. . . . . .

And they are VERY GOOD Programmers too!

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 14:53 | 2942197 akak
akak's picture

 

I think AnAnonymous is computer generated.

Funny, I think that AnAnonymous is computer defected.

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 14:42 | 2942140 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

.

I think AnAnonymous is computer generated.

AnAnonymous is the eternal nature of artificial unintelligence.

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 19:34 | 2943236 Parrotile
Parrotile's picture

You really need to read up on current firmware and software technologies.

And you better start believing in modern AI, since modern AI systems make your life safe and comfortable.

Modern, smart AI is everywhere, and since it's usually so good at doing its job, you simply don't notice it.

"Machine Unintelligence" is actually quite an insult, to hardware and software developers alike.

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 14:17 | 2942015 Matt
Matt's picture

A Turing machine with a nueral net? It seems to be learning, the posts are getting longer, clearer, and there are less word mash-ups.

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 19:25 | 2943211 Parrotile
Parrotile's picture

Exactly . . . . . .

And where better to play than on a pretty confrontational blog such as ZH? A real opportunity for quality interaction learning.

So, if AnAnonymoous is a machine intelligence, what is the intended purpose of this machine intelligence?

Or is the development programme a means to a far higher end??

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 09:09 | 2940708 thedrickster
thedrickster's picture

In this same age of depleting resources, how many Chinese will permitted to ascend?

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 14:40 | 2942130 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

You can be sure that AnAnonymous will be one of the first in France to sign up for this free housing.

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 14:49 | 2942161 akak
akak's picture

But why would a Chinese computer troll program need free housing?

Anyway, housing is an 'american' thing, an 'american' middle-class thing, and the 'american' middle class is the king class, as that is their eternal nature, the mattering thing, the crustiest bit of it, as they are invariably farming the poor and extorting the weak .... Cuckoo! .... Cuckoo! ..... Cuckoo! .....

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 06:20 | 2940362 disabledvet
disabledvet's picture

Apparently a "borrowing authority" is a greater resource than the resources themselves. Anywho "the American media tells me everything's hunky dory! those aren't real gas lines! those aren't real riots! those aren't real crimes against humanity!" so it must be true then...

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 02:09 | 2940188 otto skorzeny
otto skorzeny's picture

yeah-what the frog said

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 08:20 | 2940499 economics9698
economics9698's picture

Dr. Zhivago in real life.

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 09:38 | 2940809 hedgeless_horseman
hedgeless_horseman's picture

 

 

Before they steal more from others, they should start with what has already been stolen.  What is the current occupancy rate of this building?  It is already owned by the government, and can accomodate dozens of citizens quite well. 

http://en.chateauversailles.fr/homepage

Fri, 11/02/2012 - 13:51 | 2941900 lincolnsteffens
lincolnsteffens's picture

Mon Dieu! Let them eat cake! I'll take a suite please and send the bill to Hollende, Hollier,

Hole... what ever his name is.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!