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Housing

For Lucky Few, Paris Debuts Public Housing in a Pricey Landmark

The 96 affordable units atop the renovated La Samaritaine department store offer world-class views in one the city’s priciest neighborhoods for about $500 a month. 

A view from one of the new public housing units located in Paris’ La Samaritaine department store.

A view from one of the new public housing units located in Paris’ La Samaritaine department store.

Photo: Paris Habitat

The 96 new apartments unveiled in Paris this week might have the most stunning location of any public housing in the world. The development of new apartments, all intended for low- to medium-income tenants, is located in the newly renovated La Samaritaine department store, a massive Belle Époque landmark that opened in 1870 on a site overlooking the Seine, barely a few hundred yards from the center of Paris.

With generous proportions and balconies with views of the Eiffel Tower, the Sacre Coeur and the Louvre, such apartments would fetch multiple thousands of Euros in rent per month on the private market. But their new tenants are paying an average of 430 euros ($504 USD) in rent for a studio to an average of 929 euros for a three-bedroom unit.