One quarter of residents in the French capital live in government-owned housing, part of an aggressive plan to keep lower-income Parisians — and their businesses — in the city.

The two-bedroom penthouse comes with sweeping views of the Eiffel Tower and just about every other monument across the Paris skyline. The rent, at 600 euros a month, is a steal.

Marine Vallery-Radot, 51, the apartment’s tenant, said she cried when she got the call last summer that hers was among 253 lower-income families chosen for a spot in the l’Îlot Saint-Germain, a new public-housing complex a short walk from the Musée d’Orsay, the National Assembly and Napoleon’s tomb.

“We were very lucky to get this place,” said Ms. Vallery-Radot, a single mother who lives here with her 12-year-old son, as she gazed out of bedroom windows overlooking the Latin Quarter. “This is what I see when I wake up.”

    • Michal@programming.devEnglish
      111·
      8 months ago

      The first paragraph literally says “two bedroom penthouse”. If that’s cramped by your standards, you must be an American.

      Some people like living in cities. It’s convenient, you have shops and other amenities close by, and don’t need a car to go anywhere. Paris also has a decent metro.

    • maniacalmanicmaniaOPEnglish
      31·
      8 months ago

      I think that’s the jist of it. There’s another article posted here about how popular cycling is and how they plan to make it even more popular.