Editorial - Housing construction "offensives" slowed down

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In the reservoir municipality of Harlange, 67 "affordable" flats have been planned for a good 20 years. The strange story could be dismissed as a piece of local farce if it didn't reveal yet another weakness of the "bail emphytéotique".

By way of reminder: this is the model where you buy a flat and rent the land for many years. The "lower" prices produced in this way should actually enable ownership for people who have no chance on the normal, or rather, because the today's price situation is anything but normal, regular housing market.

However, the broadening of income criteria a few years ago has stripped the phrase "logement abordable" of its meaning, as 70 per cent of households are now eligible. If public property developers are stuck with flats because their target group is turned down by the banks, the problem cannot be solved by prioritising higher earners.