ACCESS TO SMALL PROPERTY

It must not be a deception

In recent years, the construction of individual dwellings has been greatly encouraged, with good reason, under the cover of an eminently social law to which we have given the name of its initiator, Mr. Ribot. The number of houses that have been built over the past four years in the Parisian suburbs is all the more considerable since the difficulties in finding housing have only increased. Communities such as the City of Paris and the Department of the Seine have even set an example by creating garden cities, a phrase with a more pleasant form than the agglomerations whose original defects we have recently indicated.

If we are to believe the information provided to us by interested parties, it is not only the officers' houses that are open to criticism and many people who have had recourse to private means have raised certain objections that appear justified.

Leonine conditions
Thus, we are informed that in some subdivisions, it is forbidden to have hutches, chicken coops, which seems all the more surprising since, in principle, the houses are acquired by fathers of families wishing to give their children a safe shelter. However, the chicken coop represents fresh eggs for the little ones and the hutch less expensive meat for the family.
Other complainants tell us:
The house that we had built, with staggered payments, is too small. It can, at worst, shelter the father, the mother and two children. If a third one comes along, we no longer know where to put it, because of clauses that prohibit the enlargement of the little house. How can such conditions be reconciled with the advice, repeated at all times, in favor of birth rate? A necessary reform
It is certain that these complaints deserve to be heard.

The recent law passed by Parliament regulating housing estates requires that hygiene and the principles of cleanliness be respected. The scandal of the abominable agglomerations of hovels that were being built around Paris, without roads, without sewers, without water, without light, could not be allowed to continue. It is therefore quite natural that certain fantasies that would compromise an overall work should no longer be permitted, and this is in the very interest of the inhabitants.

However, it should not be allowed under this pretext that one can draw up onerous contracts, in flagrant opposition to the simplest common sense and a healthy understanding of the needs of life. This would put a stop to the wonderful momentum in favor of access to small property, in which many authorities and elected officials have cooperated.
It would be possible to establish standard specifications based, if necessary, on the regions or places where the small houses are to be built and which would be attached to the extension plan that the municipalities must draw up. In this way, there would no longer be these conflicts, these disappointments that the complaints that we have just produced are a reflection of. These suggestions should be taken into account in the project that Parliament, on the proposal of Mr. André Payer, has just decided to study.