The sentence fell. Faced with the lack of HLM in the Alpes-Maritimes, the state sanctions. Nice headlining, but it is not the only one.
This is a subject that makes teeth cringe the mayors of the Côte d'Azur, to the point that they initialed a highly raised platform in February 2024. Year after year, the Solidarity and Urban Renewal Law (SRU) comes to punish the Riviera cities which fail to comply.
Recall that it requires from these localities with more than 3,500 inhabitants a minimum threshold of social housing. The quota is 25%, under penalty of having to go to the checkout. And the least we can say is that in 2025, some municipalities pay very expensive.
33 municipalities of the Alpes-Maritimes punished
Like last year, 33 maralpine cities are caught up in the patrol. Unsurprisingly, it is Nice who must pay the heaviest sum, namely 8.2 million euros. In 2024, the sanction was just over 7 million euros.
On the side of the metropolis, the objective it set for itself is to see 1300 corporate goods out of the ground per year until 2029, including 742 in Nice. Far from the forecasts for the period 2017-2022 (3,500 homes each year), but which had not been followed. Note that even if this total is held, it will not allow to respond positively to the objectives set by SRU law. Despite the increase in the social park, from 10 to 14% since 2008, we remain far from the account.
Another accustomed to these fines, Mandelieu- la- Napoule, which will pay 2.08 million euros this time. It must be said that due to the risk of flooding, a large part of its municipality is today unconsciously. Just behind, we valued (2.03 million euros).
Six cities owe more than a million euros
Other localities exceed the million euros bar in 2025, namely the Cannet (1.7 million euros), Menton (1.6 million) and Grasse (1.3 million). Knowing that Roquebrune- Cap-Martin and Vence are getting closer with more than 900,000 euros to have to pay.
These announcements have already aroused reactions. Thursday, the Nice far right, via Philippe Vardon, denounced one “racket fiscal“Who, according to him, would have”for the sole aim of promoting the “Social diversity […], The hidden side of migratory submersion “. He denounces at the same time “Outdoor constraints imposed on mayors “. A law which he describes as “communiste“.
An association on the left, all citizens! also shared his point of view. Recalling that in Nice, “One in five people live below the poverty line“, she believes that the SRU law is”Indispensable to enforce this fundamental right that is that of housing.“
The NGO observes a “more than alarming situation“On the French Riviera. If she notes that “Some mayors make commendable efforts“, she attacks those who”speak in the media only of respect for the order and the rules of life in society, which advocate a firm application of the laws, and suddenly free it from it when it comes to their municipality and prefer to pay penalties rather than to house people in difficulty.”
Mandelieu- La- Napoule is particularly pointed out to have “Three to four times more secondary residences than social housing“. For all citizens!, This would demonstrate that land exists to comply with state demands.
Some “good students” despite everything
What some cities can do, good students in the department. Among the non-sanctioned cities, we have Saint-André-de-La-Roche, which has 26% HLM. Even better, Valbonne (29%), which plans to add a hundred goods via a construction project at the entrance to Sophia Antipolis.
Then, Antibes can be congratulated for having been able to reduce the bill. Always “out of law”, she managed to divide her fine by six in a few years, going from 4 million to 600,000 euros in 2025. She owes it in particular to her paid strategy of a commitment with the State. But for her as for others, the path is still very long before complaining to national directives.
