HOUSING ECONOMY IN MARSEILLE
The appeal launched on November 4 by citizens and associations “against expensive housing in Marseille” invites us to reflect on the housing economy in our city.
What is a housing economy?
The housing economy in a city cannot be reduced to the amount of rents, even if this is its most sensitive part for those who live there. Several factors play a role in the price of housing, and this is how a true political economy of urban housing is constituted. These factors are, first, the distribution of housing in the urban and metropolitan space. Linked to this, the cost of transport and travel plays a major role in this economy: without appearing in the rent, the travel imposed or permitted by the place where one lives constitutes an essential factor in what the t can be called this “sustained economy” of housing. In addition, the costs of maintaining housing can be high – all the more so if the housing is old and depending on the condition of the buildings. The economy of housing is articulated here with the economy of heritage, architecture and town planning. Access to daily life services is also part of the housing economy. In a district with no shops or in a district poorly connected by public transport, the price of housing increases all the more if the inhabitants have to pay to travel to do their shopping, to go to work or, quite simply, to to go to the center of the metropolis. Finally, the housing economy is linked to the constraints of equipment: it is a real social segregation that is put in place depending on whether or not the buildings are equipped with lifts, depending on whether or not the places in which one lives are disturbed by nuisances, in particular noise. We measure the impact of this housing economy, particularly when we are looking for a space to live in.
What is the price of accommodation in Marseille made of?
The price is the exchange value of the house. In Marseille, the housing economy has its own particularities. First, the most obvious is based on the social differences between the city’s neighborhoods. We still live in a time when the differences between the rich neighborhoods of the city and its poor neighborhoods are more sensitive, more acute, than in other cities. This is how, then, a housing market is built to which the inhabitants are subject. But, like all markets, the housing market is made up of both objectively economic data, particularly when it comes to the state or deterioration of living spaces, and symbolic data: some neighborhoods have a reputation There are no others, and this reputation effect can have a considerable impact on the price of housing, on its exchange value. This is why the November 4 call calls for the development of a “common agenda” for the housing economy to put an end to these social differences and inequalities that have become unbearable in Marseille more than elsewhere. Finally, the landscape plays a considerable role in the housing economy. There is, thus, an aesthetic of housing which contributes to the evolution of what has become a real estate market, but, more generally, of housing. One could say that the aesthetics of the constructions and the living conditions in the dwellings and in the neighborhoods constitute a use value of the dwelling.
What actions should be taken so that housing is no longer a constraint in Marseille?
In Marseille, a real housing policy is intended to develop the tools available to the authorities to intervene in this housing economy, to regulate it, and to ensure that it no longer shrinks, for the inhabitants and the inhabitants, to the alienation of a market. First of all, it is important that housing prices, whether in terms of the amount of rent or the regulation of purchase prices, be established within the framework of genuine consultation, under the authority of the municipality. , between landlords and tenants and between sellers and buyers. In this respect, the agencies have acquired an important dimension that they should not have and from which we must free ourselves. This consultation is necessary for those who live in housing to have real power over the economy of their housing. A second element of this housing economy is information. Beyond the innumerable and varied diagnoses responding to users who do not understand anything and which give a varnish of authenticity and guarantee of consumption, the inhabitants and inhabitants looking for accommodation should have precise and objective information and to be able to turn to qualified and capable people who can help them in their search and avoid being cheated or mistreated by market players. In Marseille more than in other cities, all neighborhoods must be subject to the same policies of guarantees and protections. We must put an end to the inequalities that are rampant in the field of housing and, for that, there must always be the authority of the municipality, an institution responsible for supervising the renovation of buildings and housing and giving the inhabitants and city residents fair access to recognized professionals. The municipality should be able to have the power to certify housing professionals. Finally, the municipality should have a housing planning and forecasting tool. This could make it possible to develop a policy that is not short-sighted, as housing policies in Marseilles have too often been: if the housing estates have flourished, irreparably degrading the urban landscape and imposing , it is because the accommodation was built and fitted out piecemeal, day by day, without being part of a future project. Such a forecasting policy should be better articulated with transport policy, so that these are better adapted than they are to living conditions. Planning and forecasting should also be the subject of consultation and dialogue between all the players concerned, but also with the public, municipal and metropolitan authorities.