A Historic Precedent: The Reduction of APL Housing Benefits Is the Largest in the Record of French Social Aid

Emmanuelle Cosse, President of the Social Union for Housing (USH)—an organization representing social housing landlord federations—criticized the continuous cuts to budgets allocated to personal housing benefits (APL) under Emmanuel Macron’s presidency since 2017, calling on presidential candidates to make housing their priority and warning of the social consequences of these government decisions.

In an op-ed published in Le Monde, the former Housing Minister argues that "cutting personal housing benefits creates tomorrow's crisis," while housing, the largest expense for French citizens, sits at the heart of rising cost-of-living problems.

"The five euros were just the beginning."

Emmanuelle Cosse added that in the summer of 2017, just weeks after Emmanuel Macron's election, the government cut housing benefits by five euros per month for approximately 6.5 million families. Cosse stressed that "the five euros were merely the beginning," viewing this measure as the start of a policy aimed at reducing housing expenditures.
She specifically pointed to the implementation of the Solidarity Rent Reduction (RLS) program in 2018, which shifted part of the APL funding burden to social housing providers at a cost of €10.1 billion over nine years. Emmanuelle Cosse stressed: "This means a large number of homes that have not been built or renovated." She also criticized "the price freeze in 2018, the abolition of homeownership support under the housing benefit program for new loans," and the recalculation of benefits in 2021, "which generates over one billion euros annually for the state."

"Behind these figures, there are living souls."

"APL housing benefits have decreased from €21.7 billion to €16.8 billion between 2017 and 2025. No other social policy has experienced cuts of such magnitude," denounced Emmanuelle Cosse, as the 2027 budget bill includes further reductions in housing allowances. Cosse added: "Behind these numbers, there are living souls. One in five APL recipients is a single-parent family, twice the proportion found in the general population," pointing out that "the 2021 reforms alone deprived nearly 600,000 households of housing assistance in a single year."

Emmanuelle Cosse also criticized the decision requiring non-European foreigners with legal status to have resided in France for one year to become eligible for APL benefits, describing this measure as "a disguised form of national preference," or in other words, "a veiled way of favoring French citizens over foreigners."
She emphasized that "APL housing benefits are the first line of defense against economic hardship and evictions."
This appeal comes five months ahead of the French presidential election scheduled for Sunday, April 18, 2027, on which occasion Emmanuelle Cosse called on candidates to treat housing aid "as it truly is for millions of French people" and to regard it as "a daily emergency."
France News