Achieving a successful social mix

The association Habitat et Humanisme was founded by Father Bernard Devert in 1987. It employs eighty people and has eight hundred volunteers. It constructs, acquires and renovates buildings and apartments intended to house people who are in difficulty. By making use of financial structures created in order to money for social projects, the association has made more than fifty million Euros of equity capital since it was established. This has enabled it to house three thousand five hundred families. The aim of Habitat et Humanisme, however, is not so much to create social accommodation but to encourage social mixing. Since "an homogeneous residential area is an unfair residential area", this housing was created in privileged residential areas. Mediation by the partners of the association helped to solve potential tensions between inhabitants.