Public housing in France

[1] In the 19th century the cités ouvrières (company towns) appeared, inspired by the Phalanstère of Charles Fourier.

The government launched a huge construction plan, including the creation of new towns ("villes nouvelles") and new suburbs with HLM (Habitation à Loyer Modéré, "low-rent housing") in 1949.

[3] The state had the money and the legal means to acquire the land and could provide some advantages to the companies that built the huge housing complexes of hundreds of apartments.

[4] In 2000, the Law on Urban Solidarity and Renewal (Loi Solidarite et Renouvellement Urbain) required every town in France to have at least 20% HLM.

[7] The social housing programs in France have an obvious positive effect on the consumption of the households that benefit from them.