Plans for Social Housing in France

Most of the new housing was constructed on cities’ fringes, or on adjacent farmland just outside the central city, by a quasi-public company known by its French initials SCIC (Société central immobilière de la Caisse des dépôts, or Central Real Estate Company of the Deposits and Consignments Fund).  It was originally chartered in 1954 by the central government in Paris (at the time, only about 10% of housing was produced by the private sector).  By 1974, a total of 250,000 housing units were constructed by SCIC.  La Duchère, in Lyon’s western-most 9th arrondissement, contained 5,400 units built between 1957 and 1966 for 30,000 residents.