Paris's mayor plans overhaul
Newly elected Socialist mayor Emmanuel Grégoire is pushing a ‘housing revolution’ for Paris—promising expanded social housing, new car‑free zones, major public‑transport investment and stepped‑up safety measures that could reshape how you explore the city. His win followed a campaign built on relieving the city’s high cost of living and improving metropolitan solidarity. (connexionfrance.com) (lemonde.fr)
Emmanuel Grégoire was elected mayor of Paris in the second-round runoff on March 22, 2026, winning roughly 51% of the vote against conservative Rachida Dati. (france24.com) His programme explicitly commits to creating 60,000 new social housing units, with a stated priority on Paris’s western suburbs rather than the traditional eastern stock. (connexionfrance.com) Grégoire’s housing plan would re‑use vacant office space as part of that output, and includes targets to fully renovate up to 35,000 social units and to extend an eco‑renovation “pime climat” aid to about 200,000 private homes. (connexionfrance.com) Historically, office‑to‑residential conversions in Paris have amounted to roughly 600,000 sq m converted since 2001 — producing about 400–500 homes per year — a scale that is far smaller than the 60,000‑unit objective and therefore would require a major acceleration of conversion projects. (knightfrank.com) On transport, Grégoire proposes 15 “super‑bus” routes with buses every five minutes at rush hour, dedicated bus lanes, full accessibility and priority at bottlenecks to speed journeys. (connexionfrance.com) The city government does not directly operate the metro and regional buses — those services are managed by RATP and Île‑de‑France Mobilités — meaning major network changes will require coordination with regional and national transport bodies. (paris.fr) Security pledges include about 30 mobile police “kiosques” staffed 24/7 with five to six officers, a plan to recruit roughly 1,000 additional municipal police to bring totals toward 5,000, and the deployment of 500 tactical video‑surveillance cameras (the latter estimated to cost around €18.9 million over the mandate by Institut Montaigne). (20minutes.fr) Grégoire has signalled immediate symbolic continuity with his predecessors by cycling to the Hôtel de Ville after his win, and officials have said the first mobile police kiosk will be sited in the 18th arrondissement near Porte de Clignancourt. (france24.com)
