11 million people are tenants in social housing

In France during 2016, 10.7 million people were tenants in social housing. The social housing stock comprises 4.5 million housing units, or 16% of the total occupied housing stock. Social housing is relatively more common in large urban units with more than 200,000 inhabitants, accounting for 57% of the social housing stock.

The average age of social housing tenants was 50 years, between the average age of tenants in the free sector and that of owner-occupiers. The median standard of living of occupants in the social housing stock was €15,100, i.e. an amount below the median standard of living for the rest of the population. The poverty rate was higher among social tenants than among other occupant categories: it reached 35%, compared to 23% for tenants in the free sector and 7% for owner-occupiers.

More likely to meet the qualifying criteria for social housing, single-parent families and foreign natives represented a high proportion of occupants in social housing.