How Does Paris Stay Paris? By Pouring Billions Into Public Housing

NY Times | March 17, 2024

One quarter of residents in the French capital now live in government-owned housing, part of an aggressive effort to keep lower-income Parisians — and their businesses — in the city.

Even on a gray winter’s day, the Eiffel Tower stands out from the balcony of the new Îlot Saint-Germain public housing development in the Seventh arrondissement. The apartment’s resident, Marine Vallery-Radot, is among hundreds of thousands of Parisians living in public housing.

Thomas Fuller, a former European Union and Paris correspondent, returned to the French capital to interview public housing tenants and officials from Paris City Hall.