Because of the health crisis, the Groupe Action Logement has just set up a system to help certain tenants pay the rent for their accommodation.
In consultation with the Minister for Urban Affairs and Housing, the Board of Directors of Action Logement Groupe, the body that manages the participation of employers in the construction effort in favour of employee housing, decided on 11 June 2020 to set up an exceptional aid scheme for employees facing a drop in income, for the payment of their housing rent (or the repayment of a property loan for the purchase of their home).
This scheme concerns :
– tenants in the private, social and intermediate housing stock;
– tenants of collective housing (excluding Crous);
– households buying property.
According to Action Logement, the scheme is aimed at :
– private sector employees, regardless of their seniority and the nature of their employment contract, who have had to suffer a drop in income of at least 15% following the introduction of short-time working measures, or a significant increase in their expenditure;
– a job seeker;
– to employees who have had to incur additional rent costs due to the health crisis by maintaining a dual residence for professional reasons.
According to Action Logement, the scheme allows a person concerned to apply for a monthly flat-rate aid of €150, for a maximum period of 2 months, for admitted employees whose resources are less than 1.5 Smic.
It should be noted that the amount of the gross hourly minimum wage was raised to €10.15 on 1 January 2020, i.e. €1,539.42 per month on the basis of the legal working time of 35 hours per week (Decree No. 2019-1387 of 18 December 2019 raising the minimum wage for growth, OJ of 19.12.2019).
According to Action Logement, the scheme is endowed with 100 million euros, and “is effective retroactively as of April 1, 2020“.
In order to benefit from the scheme, Action Logement has indicated that an employee concerned by the scheme can contact his company’s social service, or apply directly on its website, within three months of the first drop in income.
Action Logement‘s website invites those concerned to log on to the site from 30 June 2020 to request and obtain online help (after checking their file).
This exceptional aid scheme complements the existing public schemes for aid for unpaid rent, in particular the aid from the Housing Solidarity Fund.