Insee Analyses · June 2026 · n° 121

In large urban areas, social housing contributed to social mixing, but this contribution was limited by its spatial concentration and the uneven distribution of its residents

Since the 2000s, social housing has become more evenly distributed across large urban areas. The social housing stock contributed to social diversity within neighbourhoods, especially in affluent neighbourhoods where such housing was present, thereby helping to reduce residential segregation by income level.

However, two factors limited the potential impact of social housing on social diversity. First, the social housing stock remained highly concentrated in certain neighbourhoods, leading to pockets of poverty within large urban areas. Second, even within the social housing sector itself, residents were not evenly distributed across neighbourhoods according to their income. The distribution within the social housing stock largely mirrored that observed in the private housing sector: social housing tenants living in disadvantaged neighbourhoods tended, on average, to have the lowest incomes, whereas those living in affluent neighbourhoods were, on average, somewhat better off. A more even distribution of social housing tenants by income level across neighbourhoods would have reduced residential segregation by an average of 14%.

Residential mobility patterns within the social housing sector contributed to this relationship between the income levels of residents in social and private housing. Between 2018 and 2022, households moving into social housing in the most affluent neighbourhoods had, on average, a standard of living 15% higher than those moving into social housing in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods. In addition, the better-off households tended to remain slightly longer in their social housing dwelling when it was located in an affluent neighbourhood.