Promoting social housing : Insights from redevelopment policies in Paris

The issue of income segregation plagues numerous cities, and in particular Paris which is studied here. To mitigate this problem, the local government has implemented redevelopment policies that increase incentives to convert offices and other commercial units into social housing in high-demand areas. We find that these policies have a negligible effect. Only the most restrictive legislation slightly stimulated the conversion of social housing in the city center; all subsequent policies had no effect. • Redeveloping social housing in Paris remains low despite successive laws meant to promote it. • Legislation based on redevelopment from offices and commercial units have been ineffective. • Only the 2009 law has shown a significant (but small) effect in the center of Paris.