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Creating Target Publics for Welfare Policies pp 155–176Cite as

From Groups to Individuals? The Making of Target Publics in the French Administration of Low-Rent Housing

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Part of the book series: Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning ((LARI,volume 17))

Abstract

Recent transformations of public policies have led to the emergence of new coordination measures for local governments and to changes in the role of street-level bureaucrats. Previous researches highlight a trend toward individualization of social policies and ever-greater autonomy of bureaucrats. On the basis of an ethnographic study conducted in low-rent housing organizations in two French cities, this chapter provides a critical discussion of the general hypothesis of social policies’ individualization. Through extensive interviews and direct observations of agents at work, it looks into the way target publics are defined and identified in practice. It considers the processes of qualification and categorization according to which frontline workers make their selection, questioning boundaries that are drawn by the administration between the insiders and the outsiders of social housing. This chapter first analyses how housing authorities elaborate rules to deal with legal uncertainties. It also shows how these categories are taken up and actualized by bureaucrats in their everyday practices. More broadly, it sheds light on regularly occurring selection mechanisms which led to a deeper understanding of individualization’s process.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In France, social housing is also called HLM housing. HLM means Habitat à Loyer Modéré (homes at a moderate rent).

  2. 2.

    The social landlords are the key actors in social housing chain. They own 16% of French principal residences, housing ten million people. Two types of social landlords should be distinguished: public organizations called offices publics HLM (OPHLM) and private organizations called entreprises sociales pour l’habitat. The offices publics are attached to local governments whereas the entreprises sociales pour l’habitat are commercial companies.

  3. 3.

    Loi Solidarité et renouvellement urbain.

  4. 4.

    The names of sites, organizations and individuals have been changed in order to ensure the anonymity of interviewees.

  5. 5.

    In France, the application for social housing passes through the hands of the receiving agent, then on to the social landlords and, finally, is before the allocation commission. All allocation commissions have six members, plus the Mayor of the city where the home is located (or its representative) who has a casting vote.

  6. 6.

    In France, private employers must deduct 0, 95% from their wages bill to assist the housing effort. In return, they have the possibility to propose candidates.

  7. 7.

    The scoring grid is based on several criteria which encourage housing for the poor, such as homelessness or housing need, residual costs resulting from rent, precariousness, conditions regarding financial means and case processing times.

  8. 8.

    Alexandre, General manager in charge of renting, Smalltown, November 29, 2013

  9. 9.

    RSA means Revenu de Solidarité Active which is an earned income supplement.

  10. 10.

    Alexandre, General manager in charge of renting, Smalltown, November 29, 2013.

  11. 11.

    Samia, HLM agent, Smalltown, December 9, 2013.

  12. 12.

    Alexandre, General manager in charge of renting, Smalltown, November 29, 2013.

  13. 13.

    Idem.

  14. 14.

    Rozenn, Director in charge of renting, Mediumcity, January 15, 2013.

  15. 15.

    In France, multiculturalism is tightly associated to “communitarianism” which is seen as a threat to national identity and republican values. It is negatively perceived as the opposite of the French republican “model of integration”.

  16. 16.

    The support Fund for Integration and the Prevention of Discrimination (Fasild) is a public institution that finances operations in favor of the integration of immigrants.

  17. 17.

    The High Authority to Combat Discrimination (Halde) was created in 2005 and dissolved in 2011. It was competent to address “all forms of discrimination, direct or indirect, prohibited by law or by an international agreement which France is a party”.

  18. 18.

    Christian, Elected representative in charge of social housing, Mediumcity, February 28, 2012.

  19. 19.

    Loi de mobilisation pour le logement et la lutte contre l’exclusion, 2009.

  20. 20.

    A “boubou” is an African traditional clothing.

  21. 21.

    This classification can be applied in other policy areas: for instance, Watkins-Hayes (2009) distinguished similarly three kind of social workers.

  22. 22.

    Alexandre, Director-General in charge of renting, Smalltown, November 29, 2013.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sciences Po Paris – CEE, Paris, France

    Marine Bourgeois

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  1. Marine Bourgeois
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Correspondence to Marine Bourgeois .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. CRESPPA-CSU (UMR 7217), Centre National de Recherche Scientifique, Paris, France

    Lorenzo Barrault-Stella

  2. Lab-LEX (EA 7480), Université de Bretagne Occidentale, Brest, France

    Pierre-Edouard Weill

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Bourgeois, M. (2018). From Groups to Individuals? The Making of Target Publics in the French Administration of Low-Rent Housing. In: Barrault-Stella, L., Weill, PE. (eds) Creating Target Publics for Welfare Policies. Logic, Argumentation & Reasoning, vol 17. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89596-3_8

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