offering house for 'social' housing?

[hoverfrog]

When I bought this house it "came with" (as a lot of french houses do) a "little house".

Now I don't think that our "little house" will ever be a gite... (no view, on the main road, etc), so apart from doing it up just to accommodate relatives-that-visit I can't see much of a future for it, as doing it up for relatives-that-visit is just sooooo way down on my priority list!

When I watch the news and see people living in the street, and living in accomodation worse than my "little house", I just feel like saying to them that they can come and live here and at least they'd have a roof over their heads!

Is there a way to let the associations that house homeless people to use a property without handing over the title to that property?

I'm not looking for them to make the property habitable and then benefit from it, I'm merely thinking that I have a house that needs some work but is basically sound, and must be better than living on the street for someone.

Would any organisation be interested? Has anyone ever done anything similar?

I'm probably living in cloud-cuckoo land, but I'm gratefull to have so much and hate to see something go to waste when there are so many people crying out for accommodation and I don't see us making use of our "little house" any time soon.

[s7ephanie]

We also have a little house like that and when our Marie came to visit he said we could claim 40 per cent back on renovation costs and he could let it out for us.  We havent looked into this yet but sounds good to us

[cooperlola]

Just be a little bit careful.  I have friends here who did this and the couple concerned treated the place with utter contempt.  They would not do it again.  However, I applaud the idea and I'm sure that there are plenty of good tenants out there.  Just be careful not to spend too much on fancy finishes, and expensive fittings.  Think "tennant" not "me" when you fit the place out.

[jamesg]

[quote user="s7ephanie"]We also have a little house like that and when our Marie came to visit he said we could claim 40 per cent back on renovation costs and he could let it out for us.  We havent looked into this yet but sounds good to us[/quote]

We received a circular from our Mairie on Friday, offering 45% of renovation cost provided the property is then rented out.   It probably depends on what is offered in your area.

[Washy]

In our area (11 Corbieres) which is very rural there is a scheme which agrees to take on a ruined/non salubrious property for a number of years 10 - 15 sounds familiar. The local council agrees to do the renovation work and then be able to let the property out during this time. At the end of the agreed period the property reverts to the owner.  You should ask at the mairie for details of such schemes in your area, although the time scale make not appeal to you, and I do not know what happens if the owner wants to sell the property within the term of the agreement.  French people around here use this scheme to help them renovate properties left to them in a bad state, then 10 + years is not so bad as the longer they keep the poperty the less tax they would pay on it when sold, and I charges would be taken care of by the council.

My house is let out through CAF as social housing, which I am happy with, the rent is quite low but the property is occupied and heated in winter, we only had minimal repairs to do after we purchased the property. 

[hoverfrog]

many thanks for all the replies.

It looks like (just as with everything else!) the 1st port of call is the mairie.