Reshuffle: Guillaume Kasbarian, housing liberal

As the sector faces an acute crisis, Emmanuel Macron and Gabriel Attal are making a 180-degree turn, promoting 36-year-old Renaissance MP Guillaume Kasbarian to head the ministry responsible for restarting the real estate machine.

From an economic point of view, they chose a clearly liberal profile. Gone is the era of housing ministers on the left (Patrice Vergriete, Olivier Klein). The elected official from Eure-et-Loire stood out at the head of the economic affairs committee for his outspokenness, knowledge of the issues and decisive battles.

Appointed this Thursday as Undersecretary for Housing, the former industrial strategy consultant is the author of a proposed anti-squatters law that would significantly increase penalties (tripling them). This text, voted for by a majority of both the right and the far right, and published last August, angered Insoumis, which denounces the “homeless factory,” and the Abbate-Pierre Foundation. Guillaume Kasbarian also pushed for administrative simplification measures and studied the taxation of Airbnb rentals and degraded shared ownership.

“Supply shock”

In his post, this native of Marseille of Armenian origin, very dedicated to the defense of this country in the conflict with Azerbaijan, will have a lot to do. Gabriel Attal wants a “supply shock” and two decisive measures: instruct mayors to allocate social housing for new construction. And change the SRU law, which sets an obligation to allocate 25% of social housing to each municipality. The idea, supported by the Prime Minister and outlined in his general political declaration, is to include intermediate housing, reserved for certain categories of households, in the HVA quotas. A gesture towards the middle class.

Set in a small town 20 kilometers from Chartres, the elected official also opposed a proposal, championed by environmentalist Julien Baillou, to paint roofs white to reduce the temperature of homes during heat waves, more frequently by reflecting some of the sun’s rays. “We are not in Greece, not in the Cyclades, we are not going to paint everything white,” said Guillaume Kasbaryan, considering this measure inapplicable. He then gave the example of his own home: a traditional house with a thatched roof.