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HLM (habitation à loyer modéré), French for "housing at moderated rents" or "rent-controlled housing", is a form of subsidised housing in France. There are approximately four million such residences, housing an estimated fourteen million people — nearly a quarter of the population of France. HLM's constitute 40-50% of all rented housing in France, and annual government subsidies to the tenants and constructors of HLM residences run to hundreds of millions of euros (according to Cour des Comptes, the figure in 1992 was 5.43 billion francs — nearly a billion euros). While extreme poverty is uncommon in France, the standard of living in the HLM housing projects, often disproportionately inhabited by people of North and West African descent, is among the lowest in the country, coupled with some of its highest crime rates.[1]
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History
The HLM system was created in 1950 in response to France's post-war housing crisis. The low level of construction during and between the two world wars, the rural exodus that had started to take place in France — directed mainly at Île-de-France, the region around Paris — and the baby boom, together contributed to a deficit of an estimated four million residences. Eugène Claudius-Petit, the Minister for Reconstruction and Urbanisation, promoted a scheme of massive construction of socially subsidised residences to address this problem. The new system took its foundations from the HBM (habitation à bon marché ("inexpensive housing")) system which had been created in 1889 and financed mainly by charitable sources rather than the state.
Nevertheless, the level of social construction did not significantly rise until minister Pierre Courant launched an ambitious plan in 1956, warranted by the increased rate of immigration from France's former colonies (most notably Algeria). Courant's plan aimed for the construction of at least 240,000 residences each year, and it was an unexpected success — from 1956 on, there were more than 300,000 new residences built annually, with a good number of them HLM — in 1964, there were 95,000 new HLM apartments. The residences were often constructed in large complexes, by le chemin de grue ("the way of the crane"). The new, large apartment buildings were perfectly rectangular, so as to allow a crane to roll along a track and place components on both sides of the building simultaneously, saving both time and effort.
The greatest increase in the number of HLM's came in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when a great number of planned communities, or ZUP (zones à urbaniser en priorité: "priority urbanisation zones") were constructed, mostly in the suburbs of Paris. A total of 195 ZUP were created, producing over two million new, mostly HLM, residences.
The emphasis then shifted to improving the standard of living in the residences already in existence — in 1968, only 41% of the HLM apartments had toilet and sanitary facilities. By the end of the '70s, this figure had risen to about 80%. New HLM sites with more and more rooms per residence were built in smaller cities and towns, and numerous programmes were launched to combat poverty, unemployment and crime in the ZUP communities. In 2001, each HLM residence had, on average, 2.4 persons living in it (compared to 3.2 in 1954), four rooms (three in 1954), and 96% of all HLM apartments had toilet and sanitary facilities, where the figure in 1954 was only 10%.
References in popular culture
The HLM communities, or cités HLM, are often referenced in French popular culture, as they are known for their enduring high rates of poverty and unemployment, as well as the concentration of first and second generation immigrants in the communities. Many, if not most, French hip hop artists come from the ZUP around Paris — including Sniper, 113 (band), and Kery James. Renaud Séchan is known for his songs portraying life in the HLMs. The Tryo hit "L'hymne de nos campagnes" begins: "Si tu es né dans une cité HLM..." (Mamagubida, 1998). Architecturally-speaking, the acronym HLM has almost become synonymous with the image of an unglamorous and unsightly concrete highrise block.
See also
- Ville nouvelle ("new town")
- Banlieue
- Housing Development Board (Singapore)
- Council Housing (UK)
References
- ^ Lumpen
External links
- Les organismes d'habitation à loyer modéré at Cour des Comptes (in French)
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