Interview. Too many second homes: "If we do nothing, areas will become postcards."

Your book is based on your personal journey. As a Breton, a child of the region, did you have difficulty buying a home around Saint-Malo?

“Yes. My wife, children, and I wanted to live on the coast where we grew up. I faced the same obstacles as most people in the region: everything is expensive. We are seeing rising prices and a decline in supply linked to the proliferation of second homes , which in some areas can represent 80% of the housing stock. This is becoming a real problem. If we do nothing, these areas are doomed to become postcards, condemned to hibernation. This would result in schools closing, businesses turning solely to tourism , and community life slowly dying out.”

How can this issue be a “ social bomb ” ?

"A whole population can no longer find housing: people in precarious situations, middle-class people, but not only that. In some places, it's hard to house pharmacists or doctors. This social crisis is brewing in Brittany, bosses have started to say ' we're having trouble recruiting because people can't find housing ' . The tourism economy is starting to crack because we can't hire waiters, dishwashers and all the other jobs that keep the business going.

Furthermore, the new inhabitants of the coast - because there are some, after all - are often retirees. These are people who come to spend their retirement, and find themselves faced with a problem. The lack of housing creates a shortage of nurses, landscapers, care assistants, bakers, plumbers... all these people who make it possible to live well and age well. It is imperative to address this problem. The mayor of the island of Batz (Finistère), where 70% of second homes are located, is fighting to try to keep his school open while paradoxically there are plenty of vacant homes in the winter.

Has the phenomenon increased over the last 10 years with the advent of platforms like Airbnb?

"Yes, because the second home is no longer just the ideal image of the family home in which the whole family gathers, or the house that people buy for their retirement or the inherited and under-used housing in the new family circle. With platforms like Airbnb , people are buying second homes for speculative purposes by renting them out by the night. These areas are falling outside the rental market and do not allow for local life."

What are the obstacles preventing elected officials from addressing these issues even more?

"The subject of housing is eminently political. When we touch on these issues, we talk about income, inheritance, individual property, all these things that constitute very strong points of division and on which some elected officials do not want to intervene. When you are in municipalities where there are 70% second home residents and 30% main residents, that's potentially a large part of your electorate, so it's complicated to intervene frankly. The mayor of Île-aux-Moines (Morbihan) told me that it's quite possible that one day second home residents will decide to put together a list for the municipal elections; nothing prevents it. They could develop a political project completely different from that of year-round living. At that point, we don't care about the survival of the primary school. We're not there yet, but it's entirely credible to imagine it."