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Interview of the month: Xavier Rodarie

4 minutes of reading
Xavier Rodarie, Development Manager for Regions and the Inclusive Economy, presents the social housing project initiated by Habitat Social as part of Action Tank Social & Business.
l'interview shared innovation

What is Action Tank Social & Business and why has Habitat Social decided to get involved?

Action Tank Social & Business was created in 2010 by the Chair of Social Business at HEC. It’s a laboratory for testing out social experiments to develop a more inclusive economy. It brings together companies, associations, and the academic world with one shared goal: helping to reduce poverty and social exclusion in France through economically sustainable projects that can be rolled out on a wide scale. Habitat Social joined Action Tank in 2012 with the aim of inciting the ecosystem of stakeholders involved to take action through its ‘Social Housing’ project. The goal of the project is to support regions in developing housing that is more suitable and affordable for their residents. This will be achieved by adopting the values of the inclusive economy: targeting those in precarious situations or experiencing social exclusion, adopting a joint-design approach between stakeholders, and putting social benefit before profit.

What was the motivation behind the project and what are the goals?

The project began with the housing crisis in the Ile-de-France region around Paris. Estimated demand far exceeds availability, rent is too high for potential renters, and disposable income for 350,000 households (after expenses for housing) is below the minimum recommended for the region (€14/day per consumption unit). In order to help solve this crisis, one of the aims of the project is to reduce the overall cost of social housing and increase disposable income for future residents while also guaranteeing quality buildings and economic viability.

You suggest departing from the usual approach to housing projects by starting with an analysis of the region’s actual requirements. What are the principles underpinning this method?

We always work at municipal level using a method that analyses a region’s requirements. We begin by analysing the ratio of housing availability to demand in the area to identify the type of accommodation that’s most in demand and what type of person has the most difficulty accessing social housing. The imbalance of demand and availability can be related to number (e.g. not enough 1-room apartments for single, childless people) or quality (e.g. the rental price for three or four room apartments for couples with children) or both. The results from this analysis can be used to identify which groups are most excluded from social housing and to make proposals for the region. For each target group/type of housing pair identified, we set a target amount for rent + bills with the aim of reducing the rate of exclusion for said groups using models and analysis of local data. This figure is shared with letting agents/landlords and regional authorities and shapes the design and financial structure of projects. When a housing construction project is launched in the municipality, we evaluate the overall cost of a home over 50 years using a modelling tool created by Action Tank and Habitat Social. We measure the discrepancy between this figure and the goal cost for rent + bills. We work with all stakeholders with the goal of reducing overall costs, including the client, local authorities, the project coordinator, the legal authorities, the building contractor, operator, and tenants. We work in partnership at all stages of the project including development, construction, finance, use, and maintenance. Throughout the process, we choose the best options to reduce costs: using extremely durable building materials, agreements with the tenant to perform some maintenance, individual cold water bills, etc.

What stage is the project at and have you gotten any feedback?

Three municipalities (Guyancourt in Yvelines, Grigny in Essonne, and Stains in Seine-Saint-Denis) have offered us areas to use for trial construction projects following this method including evaluation. We’ve brought together teams for the projects and we’re beginning on designs. To complete the experiment, we need to measure impact from the beginning of works to confirm the overall reduction in cost, the relevance of the groups targeted, and the increase in disposable income for residents.