The left and associations deplore the arrival in office of the man behind the so-called “anti-squatter” law, promulgated in July 2023. It notably made it possible to accelerate the eviction procedure in the event of unpaid rent.
“Nominating the one whose only feat of arms is to have facilitated evictions is a spit in the faces of the four million poorly housed people and 330,000 homeless people,” lamented Thursday evening the boss of the rebellious deputies Mathilde Panot on X (formerly Twitter) in reaction to the appointment of Guillaume Kasbarian. The deputy for Eure-et-Loir joined the government of Gabriel Attal on February 8, 2024, where he will occupy the position of Minister Delegate in charge of Housing. A promotion for the man who until now also held the position of president of the Economic Affairs Committee of the National Assembly, but whom the left and associations do not view favorably.
In question ? The new delegate minister is accused of having been the bearer of an anti-squat law. Aiming to toughen sanctions against squatters, but also accelerated eviction procedures in the event of unpaid rent, his so-called “anti-squatters” bill had been strongly criticized by the left, which had not, at first, time, did not fail to refer the matter to the Constitutional Council. The law was finally enacted in July 2023.
“Tonight, we can say that the appointment of this minister is a real slap in the face to the entire housing sector,” lamented at franceinfo the president of the National Housing Confederation, Eddie Jacquemart, for whom Guillaume Kasbarian is “a minister who passed a law which confuses the poorly housed with squatters”. And the latter sees in his appointment “a real declaration of war on tenants”. As relayed by Le Figaro, echoing AFP, the general delegate of the Abbé Pierre Foundation, Christophe Robert, said “he hopes that the new Minister for Housing will be more attentive to the suffering of the poorly housed and to the difficulties that our fellow citizens are experiencing in terms of poor housing than it was when he introduced a law which caused a lot of damage. While his appointment to Housing after two socialists marks a clear turn to the right, Guillaume Kasbarian will in any case have to face a historic crisis, between construction of new housing at half mast, saturation of emergency accommodation or even the inevitable extension of the list of applicants for social housing.
