Fire Alarm

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Two deadly apartment fires in Paris in as many weeks — as well as one back in April — have killed 48 African immigrants and forced a debate about the city's housing and immigration policies. The most recent tragedy, at a dilapidated squat in the upscale Marais district, killed seven, including four children, and brought angry activists into the streets with charges of racism and demands for better housing for both legal and undocumented residents of the city.

Yet the blaze has also called attention to the difficulties faced by authorities in trying to house Paris' growing immigrant population. "This situation of inadequate housing has been going on for too long," says Dominique Sopo, president of the association SOS Racisme. "Every time there is a tragedy, we see crocodile tears from politicians talking about how we need more social housing, but now is the time to raise the tone."

Along with the recriminations and finger-pointing, there have been some plans to improve the housing supply for the estimated 300,000 people, mostly immigrants, looking for permanent social housing in Paris. The city already provides 4,000 public housing units per year, but a 2000 law requires 20% of all residential space in French cities to be used for government-subsidized housing; presently the capital averages only 13%.

Ironically, there are up to 40,000 vacant apartment units around Paris, and critics are calling for the application of laws that would allow the state to take charge of them for housing. Similarly, a municipal plan has been in place since 2002 by which the city acquires dilapidated housing, and by July, 976 buildings had been catalogued by the city as uninhabitable — including the location of last week's fatal fire. But requisition and renovation are slowed by red tape and the shortage of temporary housing for those who would be displaced in the process.

Late in the week, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin announced a plan earmarking 50 million euros for the renovation of existing public housing structures, as well as more immediate solutions such as safe temporary lodging for 5,000 people within the next 18 months. The state will allot land for 20,000 new domiciles and provide property that had been originally earmarked for 2012 Olympic Games development.

Critics, including the mayor, are calling most of the plan inadequate and unrealistic, and not affordable for those who need it most. Still, there is some sense that major change is possible. "Right after World War II, the government created thousands and thousands of apartments for public housing," said Clémentine Autain, a deputy to the mayor. "We could change things radically again, if the will for follow-through exists."