An ecologist bill, examined on February 12, 2026, at the Assemblée nationale, aims to allow mayors to requisition vacant housing for the homeless and poorly housed, just as prefects do. The government opposes the text, deeming it ineffective and costly. This initiative revives a historical debate on France's housing crisis.
On February 12, 2026, the Assemblée nationale is examining a bill introduced by the ecologist group. The text proposes to extend to mayors the requisition powers of prefects to assign vacant premises to homeless and poorly housed individuals.
France's history of requisitions dates back to the 1945 ordinance adopted under General de Gaulle's provisional government. In 1947, the state mobilized 88,000 housing units this way. More recently, between 1995 and 1997, following the occupation of a building on rue du Dragon in Paris's 6th arrondissement by the Droit au logement association, President Jacques Chirac requisitioned a thousand apartments to temporarily house people on the streets, based on the same legal text.
A 1998 law introduced a new procedure, but the housing crisis and homelessness have worsened since. Despite repeated calls from mayors, deputies, and associations defending the poorly housed, no large-scale operations have taken place in recent years.
The government refuses to support this bill. Housing Minister Vincent Jeanbrun states in a written response: 'The requisition of housing is not effective, it is very costly and a fundamental attack on property rights.' He adds: 'It is regrettable that those who want to provide more resources for housing in our country refused to vote for the budget which included 110 million euros more for emergency housing, meaning thousands of additional places.'
This debate highlights ongoing tensions between private property rights and urgent solutions to the housing shortage.
