France: The public sector plays an important role in supporting French renters

Both national and local governments play important roles in France’s rental housing market. More than 40% of French renter households live in the public rental sector. The overall size of the French rental sector has been stable over the last two decades, and the sector provides stable and affordable housing options to a diverse range of households in terms of socioeconomic status. As in the U.S. and other countries, concerns around affordability and public preferences for homeownership have put pressure on the French rental sector. Rental policy is characterized by extensive intervention by the national government with high public housing goals for local governments, universal rental assistance, and fiscal incentives and regulation of the private rental sector.