ABSTRACT
In 1945 at the end of the Second World War, France had a severe housing shortage. The very favourable financial terms opened up home ownership to the growing and increasingly affluent middle classes of France. The development of post-war French housing policy must be seen in the context of a period of historically remarkable economic, demographic and urban growth, followed more recently by the shock of a reduction in the economic growth rate, and a slowing down in population increase. The early 1970s can be seen as a period of transition in the post-war history of French housing. Attention was to be directed towards developing rehabilitation policy and performance, and towards reform of the existing system of housing finance. Means testing has meant that some significant groups of the population have been excluded from social housing and have been forced into the worst housing in the private sector.
