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HLM (
),
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 is among the lowest in the country. The projects have become inhabited by a high proportion of people of
North and
West African descent, and many of the complexes suffer from high crime rates.
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 (
("inexpensive housing")) system which had been created in 1889 and financed mainly by
charitable sources rather than the
state.
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 had the goal of 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 ("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 (: "priority urbanisation zones") were constructed. These were built mostly in the suburbs of Paris. A total of 195 ZUP were created, producing over two million new, mostly HLM, residences.
The emphasis shifted to improving the standard of living in the residences already in existence — in 1968, for example, only 41% of the HLM apartments had toilet and sanitary facilities. By the end of the 1970s, this figure had risen to about 80%. New HLM sites with 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, whereas the figure in 1954 was only 10%.
References in popular culture
The HLM communities, or
, are often referenced in French
popular culture, as they are known for their enduringly 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.
Rohff 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
("new town")
Banlieue
Housing Development Board (Singapore)
Council Housing (UK)
References
External links
at
Cour des Comptes (in
French)
Category:French society
Category:Public housing
Category:Buildings and structures in France
