Nantes

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On 15 November 2021, Nantes signed a new pledge, in addition to the previous two pledges, this time on principle 20 of the European Pillar of Social Rights. Deputy Mayor Abbassia Hakem signed a commitment to secure access to essential services for everyone.

Nantes´ approach to tackling this principle includes the following priorities:

• Developing a public service “from streets to housing”
• Bringing together associations and citizen´s initiatives
• Making social actions more proactive towards people in difficulties
• Creating and supporting innovative projects that promote the inclusion for all and living together
• Promoting access to leisure and culture for all

With these priorities in mind, Nantes is committed to investing over €26 million in the following concrete actions for social inclusion :

• Make available facilities including 300 places in accommodation centres and a recently renovated day centre with a budget of €4million
• Administrative domiciliation of 5,500 people to enable access to social rights and services
• Create a network of social emergency stakeholders and provide training to volunteers in associations and citizen´s innovation projects
• Develop a vision and practice of open governance that included the launch in November of 2021 of the “New Solidarity Conferences”, which are running until autumn 2022
• Assist more than 10.000 households each year through social services, including mediators helping the most vulnerable population in digital procedures since June 2021
• Offer a local intervention service for energy management to combat energy poverty.
• Open the “5 Bridges” solidarity village with a total investment of €22 million, a facility that brings together a reception centre for people in very precarious situations, a day centre for families, 70 affordable housing units, and an urban farm and a solidarity market to promote integration through employment.
• Continue offering the “carte blanche” scheme to more than 15,000 households each year to promote access to culture for vulnerable groups as a tool to fight social exclusion; with a budget of €600,000

With this pledge, Nantes conveys its commitment to offer the necessary services to ensure the full social inclusion of people in society and the labour market.

On 21 February 2019, Nantes became the nineth city to pledge to the EU Pillar of Social Rights. Deputy Mayor Abbassia Hakem signed a strong commitment on principle 19 on housing and assistance for homeless.

Nantes is committed to improve access to adequate housing by:

• Building 5,000 new housing units each year.
• Putting forward a housing offer made of 25% social housing and 25% affordable housing unit that can be bought.
• Offering access to adequate housing for all inhabitants, including Roma and Travellers.

With these goals in mind, Nantes will invest in Housing First in 2019-2025 to provide:

• 300 places in conventional social housing.
• 100 places in transition centres.
• 50 places in hospitality centres.
• 150 places in a housing scheme for people with mental health problems.

Nantes is investing €1 million to fight homelessness through innovative measures such as by helping people living in highly precarious conditions to take part in the construction of their home while at the same time accessing measures for active support to employment and social inclusion (Igloo project).

Nantes’ Deputy Mayor Abbassia Hakem said: “Each inhabitant should be able to enjoy housing that meets their needs without being excluded from town centres and access to services. In Nantes, we are committed to make the principle of living together cohesively a reality and a constant goal for our city”.

On 23 March 2020, following the city’s previous pledge on housing and homelessness, the mayor Johanna Rolland signed a new pledge to the European Pillar of Social Rights dedicated to principle 2 on gender equality.

With this new pledge, Nantes is determined to promote gender equality by:

• Strengthening the public policy co-drafted with all local actors in 2014 and aligned with the European Charter for Equality of Woman and Men in Local Life.
• Creating a Gender Equality Council, in 2015, which is composed of 600 members (among them inhabitants, associations, companies, institutions) and chaired by the Mayor.
• Developing actions plan for 2014-2020 promoting gender equality in all policies, services and the building environment of the city.

Since then, concrete measures have been taken in multiple fields such as for:

• Children and young people: educational actions at school or cultural activities to combat stereotypes.
• Health: multiprofessional health centers in some specific neighbourhoods as well as preventive care and help for sex workers.
• Employment: support a Project helping women to gain confidence and negotiate salary, actions to assist women in their employment pathways, to develop business, to find solutions for childcare.
• Culture: feminization of the Nantes street names.
• Sport: reflection on public space for women and host of major women’s international sporting events.

Nantes is also committed to combat violence against women by opening a post-trauma consultation center for women victims of violence with a budget of around €1 million euros. The center called Citad’elles is providing medical, psychologic and material assistance for women victims of violence and children who can be collateral victims. The center is also intended to become a resource and coordination place for professionals and associations in the city. It was opened in autumn 2019, immediately after the city pledge was made public.

With this pledge, Nantes expresses its will to work for the promotion of real equality between gender and build awareness as well as assist women victims of violence.