Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Rally (RN), has advocated for prioritizing French households over foreign ones in the distribution of social housing. During a speech on September 13 in Hénin-Beaumont (Pas-de-Calais), she argued that French citizens are being left out of the benefits of low-rent housing, suggesting that immigrants are receiving preferential access. This claim has sparked debate, with RN officials citing statistics from the Ministry of the Interior: in 2022, 30% of immigrants in France lived in social housing, compared to 11% of non-immigrants. However, Emmanuelle Cosse, president of the Union sociale pour l'habitat (USH), a group representing 600 social housing providers, argues that the higher presence of immigrants in social housing may be due to lower incomes and larger household sizes, rather than discrimination. According to the latest data from the USH, 16% of tenants in the HLM (social housing) stock were born abroad, a figure only slightly higher than their 14% share of the overall population in 2025. Cosse explains that this is partly due to the lower average income of the foreign population. Social housing allocation considers factors such as income, household size, and urgency, but nationality is not a determining factor. The Constitutional Council has ruled that the principle of equality before the law applies to all, including foreigners, meaning those with valid residence permits have the same rights to social housing as French citizens. Despite this, the Defender of Rights, an independent authority in France, reported in March 2025 that the poorest applicants—many of whom are foreigners—are systematically disadvantaged in accessing social housing. A study by the French Observatory of Economic Conjonctures (OFCE) also found that foreign households have the lowest allocation rates and are often placed in less desirable housing. This issue has been noted before, with a 2007 report by the High Council for Integration pointing out that immigrant households face longer waiting times for housing. In 2024, 28% of those who applied for social housing had waited more than three years, double the average. These applicants often ended up in older, less desirable housing. Marine Le Pen also highlighted that 70% of the French population is eligible for social housing, but only 11% actually benefit from it. While 72% of French people are eligible based on income, this number drops to 37% when excluding those who already own their homes. The demand for social housing remains high, with 2.9 million pending applications in 2026, a record high. Only one in seven applicants is eventually allocated housing. The low turnover rate of social housing—around 7%—is due in part to the difficulty many tenants face in finding private housing. In 2020, 45% of social housing tenants were in the second lowest income bracket, compared to 21% in 1984. The challenge of meeting demand has placed pressure on social landlords, who must balance the need for new housing with the maintenance of aging housing stock. While the number of social housing units has increased by 11% in the past decade, the supply still falls short of the needs of the most vulnerable.