Owners of tiny attics in Paris, many of which have fallen into disrepair, are to be encouraged to renovate then and make them available to rent or buy.
In a bid to help cope with the shortage of affordable homes Paris City Hall has announced plans to renovate the hundreds of unused flats known as chambre de bonne apartments that are nestled in the rooftops of the Paris skyline.
These living spaces were once sleeping quarters for domestic workers, a relic of bourgeois life in the 19th and early 20th centuries but they may not be as affordable as City officials think as in the better areas they can fetch €11,000 per square meter.
The attics are also connected with romance and art, with struggling artists, writers and creatives living in these kinds of spaces for centuries as they were the only kind of accommodation they could afford.
The Mayor’s office has announced that by 2020 the City Hall wants to see 1,000 of these apartments renovated as part of a plan to ease the city’s chronic housing shortage. ‘We want to do everything we can to create new lodgings,’ said housing deputy Ian Brossart.
There will, however, be public money available. Owners who pledge to rent out these apartments can apply for a grant of €14,000 per property as part of a €10 million budget set aside for the project.
Research from the Abbe Pierre Foundation, a French group that fights for the rights of people living in substandard housing, shows that there are around 114,000 of these type of apartments in Paris of which around half are smaller than nine square meters, which are actually not habitable according to the city’s health rules.
Owners renting a property in Paris are restricted in what they can charge with rents capped according to the age and location of the property. A landlord cannot charge more than 20% per square meter above the median rent in the area.
