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Last time we drove out of Paris after staying with friends, my wife spotted a large farmers market that she wanted to stop at.
It turned out to be a homeless encampment filled with immigrants to France.
Paris preserves its mixed society by pouring billions into public housing
121–130 of 662 posts
Re: Paris preserves its mixed society by pouring billions into public housing
#122The reality of this housing policies is that it is currently bankrupting the city of Paris with a skyrocketing debt and growing local taxes. They spent enormous sum of money to buy old buildings at the historical peak of their price, buildings ill-fitted to house poor wide families and sometimes in very expansive neighborhood where they have to travel far to get access to cheaper groceries. Also the delta between the…
I love how "giving poor people comfort" is always actually a "power grab."
I'm sure it does have political benefits for the mayor, but that's also a natural outcome of good policy. (Not the only one; often good policy actually has horrible backlash.)
This comment could be expressing some true ideas but I don't find it trustworthy.
Re: Paris preserves its mixed society by pouring billions into public housing
#123Earlier quoted context omitted.
The US also has a per capita GDP 50% higher than Austria ($52,131 vs $76,399). At $52,131 a year per capita GDP, Austria would be neatly in second to last place as the poorest state in the Union, as it would beat Mississippi at $47,190 but be beaten by West Virginia at $53,852. So perhaps the US policy is doing something correctly.
Oh yes, it’s much better to make 53K a year and live in West Virgina than Vienna. This is a sentiment with which everyone would agree.
What's wrong with West Virginia?
If you used housing prices an an indication of desirability (and an attempt to stay on topic) people much prefer to live there than the smallish mid-western town that I bought a house in.
I mean, trees and mountains instead of miles and miles of corn...
Re: Paris preserves its mixed society by pouring billions into public housing
#124Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What are the mechanics of how this works? If I agree to buy a property for a million dollars, does the city get a chance to match that price? there's a French wiki page on this: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Droit_de_pr%C3%A9emption_urbai... But basically, yes, the city has 2 months to match the price. The city can also offer a lower price, which can be refused (so no sale at all) or can be argued in front of a spe…
So does this mean that every sale of any building can take at least two months?
Not any, only old buildings built after a certain date. And two month to sell a building in France? It's fast.
Re: Paris preserves its mixed society by pouring billions into public housing
#125Before the invention of the elevator, buildings were more naturally mixed-use: shops (and stables?) on the ground floor, posh tenants on the first, all the way up to artists and baristas in their garrets under the roof. By democratising travel within a building, ironically the elevator made it possible to have neighbourhoods for which service workers had to commute primarily from the outside along the x and y axes, n…
> all the way up to artists and baristas in their garrets under the roof.
I don't think there was any significant crossover between lifts not existing and _baristas_ existing. For a start, lifts predate proper espresso machines.
Re: Paris preserves its mixed society by pouring billions into public housing
#126The problem with charging below market prices for anything is that it necessarily leads to a mismatch of supply and demand. So the question is how do you allocate that supply? One way is to have hidden costs. This could range from straight up bribes, to paid consultants to fill out a lot of forms or talk to the right people, to just knowing someone Another way is a lottery which benefits a tiny percentage of people.…
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Re: Paris preserves its mixed society by pouring billions into public housing
#127The reality of this housing policies is that it is currently bankrupting the city of Paris with a skyrocketing debt and growing local taxes. They spent enormous sum of money to buy old buildings at the historical peak of their price, buildings ill-fitted to house poor wide families and sometimes in very expansive neighborhood where they have to travel far to get access to cheaper groceries. Also the delta between the…
Can you provide some sources on the Paris city’s budget and debt? I couldn’t find anything on it. France’s debt looks roughly linear, which I imagine would support Paris a lot
Re: Paris preserves its mixed society by pouring billions into public housing
#128As a Parisian, who is generally angry at the city’s housing policy (build taller!), I find the public housing of the past few years to be a great achievement. In general, public housing sits on the outer edges of Paris, but the city has been agressive in reconverting buildings in posher neighborhoods. It doesn’t really lead to reduced rent (because no additional supply), but it decreases social segregation. That alon…
> build taller As someone who lives in an area with plenty of high-density residential buildings, I can attest that this is a perfect recipe for creating congested cities with such intense light and noise pollution.
Light pollution is relatively easily solved, there's just not much will to do so. Noise pollution is best solved by reducing car-dependency which is a non-starter in most North American cities; I can't speak for Europe but I understand Paris to have undertaken a serious revolution in purging cars within the past decade.
Re: Paris preserves its mixed society by pouring billions into public housing
#129Earlier quoted context omitted.
I used to think like you but no longer do. A city NEEDS to have people of all ages, backgrounds, income levels etc in it to not die. Yes those people who live in that most central subsidized housing are in some ways winning a lottery ticket, and the real policy is to build a lot more housing as close to the city as possible. But Paris are doing that! AND adding new public transit etc etc. This multifaceted approach i…
What do you mean cities need it not to die? Would you say Monaco is dead? What about Zurich? Oslo?
Don't those all have a reputation of being rather dull and culturally insignificant in comparison to Paris?
Re: Paris preserves its mixed society by pouring billions into public housing
#130Earlier quoted context omitted.
Subsidies always have a cost on public finances. In Paris' case, the financial situation is bad and getting worse with a debt on track to reach EUR10 billion. So it seems to me that Paris is borrowing like there is no tomorrow. This usually does not end well.
It entirely depends on how the money is spent. If Paris is making investments that will enable it to substantially grow its tax base, it's a good prudent strategy, certainly better than the supposedly more fiscally responsible do-nothing strategy that can just as easily lead to financial ruin as irresponsible drunken-sailor spending.
> If Paris is making investments that will enable it to substantially grow its tax base
Obviously, this is not what they are doing, debts growing with quite high tax rises at the same time ("taxe fonciere" [property tax] doubled last year).
Paris is often depiected as a great model, especially by liberal foreign media, but the reality is rather different, and I believe that the Mayor's approval rating is currently abyssmal...