“Without action, my town will become a vacation resort”: in Locmariaquer, in the Morbihan department, the mayor is trying in vain to promote year-round living.
Posted by WAGRAMWAGRAM
“Without action, my town will become a vacation resort”: in Locmariaquer, in the Morbihan department, the mayor is trying in vain to promote year-round living.
Posted by WAGRAMWAGRAM
4 Comments
Here’s an extreme case of NIMBY / AirBNB bad BS from France
>Hervé Cagnard (independent) is still “in shock” on June 12. Mayor of Locmariaquer (Morbihan), a wealthy village of 1,600 inhabitants located on the tourist-friendly coast of Brittany, he is brooding over the “failure” of the local referendum held on May 18 to gauge residents’ opinions on the development of the last three municipal land reserves.
>The elected official proposed building around 30 homes under the BRS (solidarity-based real lease) scheme, which separates the land from the building, enabling low-income residents to purchase properties at up to 40% below market price. [*As I understand that’s more or less a leasehold but on public land*] The BRS is a lever for curbing real estate speculation while ensuring that homes are passed on to year-round residents. “Without intervention, my town will become a nursing home and an open-air vacation center,” the elected official insists.
>In Locmariaquer, the majority of the population is retired. Unable to buy in this seaside resort where real estate prices rival those in Paris, young and working people are being pushed further and further inland. The few properties for sale are snapped up by second-home owners. Many properties available for year-round rental are frequently converted by their owners into more profitable nightly rentals. Here, six out of ten homes are vacation residences. Symbolizing an aging region that lives to the rhythm of tourism, the elementary school now has only 54 children. Last year, there were 62.
JFC it’s really just the same old story as always.
Town/city has a dying population because there is no local economy outside of tourism. > Young people leave to go to bigger cities. > Local old people who stick around don’t know how to fix it AND don’t approve of anyone’s solutions to fix it. > Town/city continues its decline into a vacation spot with a decent population only 1/4 of the year. > Local businesses die because these geezers can’t and won’t make up in revenue what the business pays in rent for what is mostly worthless commercial real estate 3/4ths of the year. > There are even fewer jobs because of the businesses closing, guaranteeing that nobody of working age can live here. > Housing market inflated by low supply, no real building happening because locals are resistant to change and also developers will need some form of government buy-in to make it feasible. > Remaining houses get sold when geezers die > People buy them as a second home or to rent them out. > Problem gets worse > People complain about the symptom and not the cause as if they know anything (they’re onto NOTHING most of the time because French boomers are the least educated segment of the population) or blame something else like immigration or foreign real estate speculators (complaining about rich immigrants).
We’re basically Italy dog, our country is so cooked.
Amazing how greedily people guard their pleasure at the expense of others’ needs.
NIMBYs are evil people