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.”

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldB
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    9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:


    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.

    Public housing can conjure images of bleak, boxy towers on the outskirts of a city, but this logement social was built in the former offices of the French Defense Ministry, in the Seventh arrondissement, one of Paris’s most chic neighborhoods.

    This summer, when the French capital welcomes upward of 15 million visitors for the Olympic Games, it will showcase a city engineered by government policies to achieve mixité sociale — residents from a broad cross-section of society.

    Paris is being buffeted by the same market forces vexing other so-called superstar cities like London, San Francisco and New York — a sanctum for the world’s wealthiest to park their money and buy a piece of a living museum.

    Paris has also sharply restricted short-term rentals, after officials became alarmed when historic neighborhoods, including the old Jewish quarter, the Marais, appeared to be shedding full-time residents as investors bought places to rent out to tourists.

    When the bookshop’s previous location was bought by an insurance company and the original owners retired, a group of women that wanted to keep the business going struggled to find a new home and announced they were closing the store.


    The original article contains 1,929 words, the summary contains 241 words. Saved 88%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!

  • FunkPhenomenon@lemmy.zip
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    9 months ago

    eh… I wouldnt choose to live in a cramped apartment in the inner city. perhaps the inner city vibe is different in Europe?

    • maniacalmanicmania@aussie.zoneOP
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      9 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.

    • Michal@programming.dev
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      9 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.

  • tsonfeir@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    So, if you’re not lower income, just medium income, do you pay out the nose for housing in Paris?