Marine Le Pen, candidate for the Rassemblement national, has highlighted the issue of housing for "French families in need" during her political return in September 2025, promising to prioritize access to social housing for French citizens. She claimed that only 11% of French people benefit from social housing, while 70% are potentially eligible, suggesting that the benefit is given to "an incessant and anarchic immigration." However, a 2025 report by the Agence nationale de contrôle du logement social (Ancols) found that 71% of households in France are eligible for social housing based on income, with eligibility criteria including the PLAI (income limit between €13,000 and €15,000 for a single person), the PLUS (€23,500 to €27,000), and the PLS (€30,500 to €35,000). The report also noted that 85% of the social housing stock is subject to the PLUS income limits, and only 54% of households are eligible for this category. The 11% figure cited by Le Pen comes from an INSEE table from 2019-2020, which indicated that 11% of people without migratory or overseas ascendance are tenants in social housing or benefit from the 1% employer program. However, this figure does not include immigrants who have become French citizens. According to INSEE, in 2025, 33% of the 8 million immigrants in France were French citizens, and in 2024, 15.1% of French households occupied social housing, not 11%. Cross-referencing INSEE data with the Institut national d'études démographiques (Ined), it is estimated that approximately 2 million immigrants and nearly 6 million French people without direct migratory ascendance occupied social housing in 2022 and 2023, respectively. This indicates that there are about three times more French people without direct migratory ascendance living in social housing than immigrants. According to INSEE, 82.5% of social housing tenants had a French national reference person in 2024, compared to 11.3% with foreign nationalities. This strongly refutes the idea that immigrants are mass occupying social housing. The overrepresentation of immigrants in social housing is primarily due to their lower income levels compared to the average of households without direct migratory ascendance. Patrick Simon, a researcher at Ined, explained that the social housing stock primarily accommodates households that cannot access private property or private housing due to lower income and less wealth. Manuel Domergue of the Foundation for the Housing of the Disadvantaged noted that immigrants and their descendants have lower incomes and are younger, leading to their overrepresentation in social housing demand. According to data from the Union sociale pour l'habitat (USH), the allocation rate for households from outside Europe is 13%, compared to 14% for French households, indicating no preferential treatment for immigrants. The law requires applicants for social housing to be French or provide a residence permit for non-European citizens, excluding those in an irregular situation. The allocation process involves a commission composed of representatives from the landlord, the local municipality where the housing is located, and the state. This commission examines three applications for each available housing unit. The state can propose candidates who meet the criteria for priority housing, such as those facing housing difficulties. Immigrants and foreigners face significant discrimination in the private rental market, as documented by various studies. A 2019 INSEE study found that a candidate with a Maghrebi-sounding name had a 26.7% lower chance of securing private housing compared to a candidate with a French-sounding name. The Defender of Rights compiled tests in 2026 showing even greater disparities among young people, with a 37 to 40% lower chance of securing private housing. According to Patrick Simon, the overrepresentation of immigrants in social housing does not cause housing market tensions, but rather the opposite. The crisis in social housing access is attributed to state and local government disinvestment, according to the Confédération nationale du logement (CNL), which criticizes the decline in social housing production and the lack of state contribution to the National Housing Aid Fund. The number of social housing units funded dropped from 130,000 in 2016 to 85,000 in 2024.