# Health Inequalities in Social Housing in Relation to Thermal and Acoustic Issues

Yaneira Wilson, Yankel Fijalkow

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Yaneira Wilson, Yankel Fijalkow. Health Inequalities in Social Housing in Relation to Thermal and Acoustic Issues. European network for housing research: Grand Paris 2025: Affordable Housing in Greening Cities, LAB-URBA; Université Gustave Eiffel; Université Paris-Est Créteil, Jun 2025, Paris, France. hal-05533576

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# Health Inequalities in Social Housing in Relation to Thermal and Acoustic Issues

Yaneira Wilson

ESPI2R (Research in Real Estate). Center for Housing Research, LAVUE-CNRS, France. School of Architecture, Paris-Val de Seine. Paris, France, mail: yaneira.wilson@paris-valdeseine.archi.fr

Yankel Fijalkow

Center for Housing Research, LAVUE-CNRS, France. School of Architecture, Paris-Val de Seine. Paris, France, mail: yankel.fijalkow@paris-valdeseine.archi.fr

## SUMMARY

The SAPHIR project (an acronym for *Health, Paris, History, Building, Residential*) is a research initiative that investigates the interplay between housing conditions and health inequalities in the Paris region. Three buildings located in the center, pericenter and southwest suburbs of Paris are analyzed, revealing two critical dimensions of inequality: energy poverty and poor acoustic insulation. We adopt an educational and participatory approach to raise tenants' awareness of how housing affects their health. Drawing on residents' narratives and testimonies, this approach helps us identify critical situations and compromises that expose a condition of “residential stress,” stemming from deteriorated living conditions and limited agency on the part of tenants. The criteria of housing choice, control over the environment and the ability to project oneself, which overlap with the quality of the built environment, are found in health literacy in the home. This article explores how residents perceive inequalities in social housing and their connections to health. While this awareness enhances residents' understanding of their housing conditions, it also deepens their sense of injustice.

## Keywords

1. health,

2. housing

3. energy insecurity,

4. soundproofing,

5. residential stress,
# Health Inequalities in Social Housing in Relation to Thermal and Acoustic Issues

The "housing crisis" is often referred to as a phenomenon of shortage caused by a low level of construction that does not keep pace with demographic trends (Driant 2016). Explanatory factors include the scarcity of building land and the difficulty for public authorities to regulate prices. From a post-war discourse in which housing had to be built to solve the weakness of the housing stock, the term "housing crisis" has gradually slipped into indices of market, investment and profitability. Today, this commodification of housing is reflected in property price inflation, longer queues and slower residential mobility, all of which reinforce inequalities in access to housing (Desage and Schotté 2013) : on the one hand, low-income households are forced to accept deteriorating housing conditions, and on the other, social housing, which is required to cater for the most disadvantaged, is constrained by profitability targets (Houard 2011). In line with this financial rationale, players in the social housing sector are constantly looking for ways to cut costs, which is leading to a rise in the precariousness of the housing stock, affecting both construction and renovation. Our hypothesis is based on how the effects of precarious social housing affect the health of its residents, or how inadequate housing reinforces health inequalities by reducing the physical, mental and social well-being of its inhabitants. During the Covid crisis, several official reports denounced the quality of social housing, with apartments found to be cramped, difficult to heat and poorly soundproofed (Lemas et al. 2020). However, these studies focused exclusively on housing as a material object, omitting the impact of these conditions on the health of the inhabitants.

According to the Fondation Abbé Pierre<fnref n="1" />, in 2025, 4.7 million people will suffer from heating difficulties, overcrowding, faulty equipment and poor construction, leading to health problems (Fondation Abbé Pierre 2025). Furthermore, the proportion of social housing among primary residences in France is aimed at four million households, while 70% of French households are eligible according to their income scale (ANCOLS 2024). These data, even if uncorrelated, raise questions about the reality of housing quality in the social housing stock, where budgetary constraints lead to a categorization of the stock according to income levels, as well as a tendency to produce more housing for middle-income households, to the detriment of more disadvantaged households (Fijalkow 2011). In day-to-day management, this leads to differentiated social relations between landlords and tenants, expressed in particular in the treatment of the question of charges and nuisances, putting the appropriation of inhabited space (Bouillon et al. 2019) in tension.

The notion of health that we adopt operates on two scales (urban and inside the home). While environmental damage to human health has become a public issue, housing interiors are not watertight shelters. Some neighborhoods suffer from pollution, remoteness, lack of green spaces and so on. Respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, depression, sleep disorders and stress are partly due to poor air quality, certain materials (lead, asbestos), humidity, sound and

<footnote n="1">¹ The name of the association changed this year, so you will also find this translation in the text: Foundation for Housing the Underprivileged (Fondation pour le Logement des Défavorisés)</footnote>
heat insulation problems, and lack of space. The correlation between exposure levels and social inequalities is now well-documented: it is the poorest households who suffer from poor soundproofing (Williams et al. 2020) and it is also they who suffer from a form of energy insecurity, spending over 8% of their income on heating (Trutta and Devalière 2020). How do residents arbitrate this tense situation, (spending more to heat better), and what effects does this new form of energy poverty (heating less to spend less) have on health, when we know that heating difficulties have effects on concentration, breathing and stress (Ortiz and Bluyssen 2022). Today, energy poverty affects 12 million people, and more than one household in four suffered from the cold in 2024 (30% versus 14% in 2020) (Fondation Abbé Pierre 2025). According to the WHO, ambient noise is the second most important environmental morbidity factor in Europe, after air pollution (World Health Organization, 2011). Restricting the notion of health to the two criteria of heat and noise may seem open to criticism, but we shall see that a close examination of these two criteria reveals some particularly rich issues.

Following this observation, our main question aims to understand how the differentiated perception of thermal and noise nuisance according to residents' economic and cultural capital shapes the sense of injustice and possible grievances in social housing? To answer this question, we will structure this article in three parts. First, we will outline the methodology of the SAPHIR (an acronym for *Health, Paris, History, Building, Residential*) action-research project. The second part will summarize the monographs of three case studies, detailing the buildings, the population and the survey work carried out on site. Finally, the third part will present an overview of energy poverty and noise pollution, before taking stock of the health inequalities highlighted during the study. From a theoretical point of view, we mobilize the concept of health literacy in the home (LSH) (Fijalkow and Wilson 2024), borrowed from the field of public health. Inspired by the work of Krystine Sørensen (2012), this notion of literacy refers to an individual's ability to identify, understand and evaluate information relating to their health, based on their knowledge, skills, motivations and aptitudes (Sørensen et al. 2012). We pay particular attention to situations of "residential stress", when the appropriation of housing becomes difficult, both practically and symbolically (Wilson and Fijalkow 2024b). These critical moments can lead to strategic decisions, such as moving, adapting housing or mobilizing a collective of residents, in line with Albert Hirschman's *exit, voice, loyalty* model (Hirschman 1970). However, in social housing, low residential mobility often forces tenants to adapt or mobilize (Fijalkow 2017).

## Educational materials and storytelling methodology

To answer this question, the SAPHIR action-research project, supported by ARS Île-de-France since 2022², adopts a qualitative approach to explore the impact of housing on residents' health.

<footnote n="2">² Over three years, the panel of buildings analyzed includes over thirty buildings from different construction periods, around 150 interviews, as well as a sample of 20 single-family homes located in Paris, the suburbs and other cities. A team of trainees (4 or 5 per year, from a variety of disciplines) and two researchers with extensive experience of working with thermal imaging cameras have accompanied us on this research project, which will be completed in July 2025.</footnote>
Initially, "educational cafés" are organized to discuss with residents the impact of housing quality on physical and mental health, using educational materials. These are embellished with recognized statements (e.g. "health is much more than the absence of disease"), and outline answers to basic questions ("what does well-being in housing mean"). They refer to the results of research<fnref n="3" /> and give a few definitions (e.g. of "thermal flats"). These cafés serve to raise residents' awareness of health issues, giving them a more active role in our research and encouraging them to take part in individual interviews (Wilson and Fijalkow 2024a). Since 2024, we have created a poster containing this information, which is then reproduced in a leaflet (see image no. 1) that we distribute to tenants at educational cafés and in the mailboxes of each building.

<figure><img src="image_2.png" /><figcaption>Image 1: leaflet © SAPHIR, 2024</figcaption></figure>

In the second phase, we explore with tenants their residential trajectories, their housing and neighborhood practices, their difficulties and their perceptions of health issues. In this context, we have introduced an "a tool to make invisible issues visible, such as thermal loss", namely a thermal camera. This enables us to get residents talking, by encouraging them to describe their homes and show us cooling points. During the interviews with the thermal camera, the respondent is placed in a situation of evaluation, either of the quality of the work carried out in his or her home, or of his or her own housing practices. We then record what phase 1 may (or may not) have provoked in their thinking. In addition, we carry out living surveys to map the layout, highlighting the use of spaces, the multi-functionality of rooms and the density of occupancy, among other things (see image no. 2). The results of these interviews and surveys are summarized in thematic sheets covering key areas such as windows, elevators, balconies, staircases, heating and common spaces.

<footnote n="3">³ For example: "Did you know? Heating has effects on mental concentration, breathing and stress" or "Soundproofing has effects on sleep and alertness" or "Lack of green spaces can have effects on obesity and cardiovascular disease".</footnote>
<figure><img src="image_3.png" /><figcaption>Image</figcaption></figure>

2: Inhabited survey of the HBM studied, the blue lines correspond to the traces left by successive water damage © SAPHIR, 2023

In the third phase, a *focus group* is organized in each building to present and share the results of the diagnosis and assessment of housing quality (see image no. 3). All those interviewed, as well as anyone interested in health issues, are invited to attend. This focus group aims to identify possible levers for action, the development of alternative technical solutions, or the adaptation of regulatory measures. It also provides an opportunity to collectively rethink the management and use of common and private spaces, as well as the interior of the home, by actively involving residents.

<figure><img src="image_4.png" /></figure>

Image 3: left, educational café and right, focus group © SAPHIR, 2023-2024

## A diversity of social housing and residential inequalities: three case studies from the Ile-de-France region

We propose to study the LSH in three social housing buildings, built at three different times, in three different locations and hosting three distinct sociological profiles: from the upper middle class to categories closer to the working world. These three sites are exemplary of the
inequalities in social housing found in the Ile-de-France region, and of the vulnerabilities associated with the relationship with the social landlord.

<table><caption>Table: Characteristics of the three-building survey</caption><thead><tr><th>Criteria</th><th>HBM Red Belt</th><th>HLM Paris 5</th><th>HLM South-West Suburb</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td>Year of Construction</td><td>1935</td><td>1970</td><td>2003</td></tr><tr><td>Number of Units</td><td>40</td><td>160</td><td>96, including 47 with a health label and 14 inclusive housing units</td></tr><tr><td>Population Type</td><td>Elderly people, Middle class</td><td>Couples, Young couples with children, Upper-middle class</td><td>Young couples with children, Elderly people, Working-class, Employees</td></tr><tr><td>Occupancy Status</td><td>Social rental housing</td><td>Social rental housing</td><td>Social rental, intermediate rental, and subsidized homeownership</td></tr><tr><td>Spatial Layout</td><td>Closed courtyard, 7 floors</td><td>Closed courtyard, but sports facilities open to the neighborhood, 5 floors</td><td>Open residence on the city outskirts, 3 floors</td></tr><tr><td>Type of Heating</td><td>Individual gas heating</td><td>District heating (CPCU)</td><td>Individual electric heating</td></tr><tr><td>Types of Units</td><td>T1-T3</td><td>T1-T5</td><td>T1-T5</td></tr><tr><td>Individual Interviews Conducted</td><td>7</td><td>13</td><td>15</td></tr><tr><td>Collective Meetings</td><td>2</td><td>2</td><td>2</td></tr><tr><td>Participants in Collective Meetings</td><td>15</td><td>18</td><td>16</td></tr></tbody></table>

We were keen to make these buildings anonymous, so as to preserve a certain freedom in reporting on the relationship between tenants and managers.

The first building is part of Paris's HBM red belt, R+7. It's a building of classic morphology, built between the two world wars, located in Paris intra-muros, but well served and close to the ring road. The building stands out for its remarkable architecture, considered a legacy of the social housing set up at the beginning of the 20th century for the most modest populations. The originally small apartments (F3 for 60m2) are now home to middle-class wage-earners and employees, but above all to a high proportion of elderly people and single people. Built to the standards of the time (1930), they offer very little in the way of comfort (no individual toilets), and no balconies. Wooden floors and thick partitions make them particularly noisy. What's more, their red-brick appearance (see image no. 5) means they can't be renovated from the outside without altering the architecture; inside, they're so narrow that they can't be insulated against noise and energy. In homes built between the two world wars, temperatures of around 16° create a feeling of discomfort in winter,
prompting occupants to overheat their homes<fnref n="4" />. This phenomenon, known as the "cold wall effect", is very pronounced. As a result, thermal renovation programs remain unambitious, and tenants have to put up with high heating bills.

<figure><img src="image_5.png" /><figcaption>Image 5: HBM building type © SAPHIR, 2023</figcaption></figure>

- Le deuxième d'immeuble is a social housing complex in the heart of Paris's fifth arrondissement, a district with a high proportion of executives and professionals. Its modern architecture, dating from the late 1970s, features stepped terraces, R+5, (see image no. 6) organized around a courtyard and green spaces, including a sports field. This program is part of the urban transformation of the Mouffetard district, a former working-class area of Paris located near the Jardin des Plantes. It contributes to the gentrification of this area, which has seen the gradual settlement of a more affluent population. The City of Paris made this building a pioneering site, allocating housing to households from the middle and upper social classes who were supposed to "vote well" for the municipal majority of the time (Godmer 2021). However, after this wave of settlement, a more sociologically diverse population began to move in. The building's residential history and its location, in what is now an affluent part of town, weigh heavily on the collective dynamic. A highly cohesive

<footnote n="4">⁴ See the APUR study on the energy performance of Parisian housing in 2009 (http://www.apur.org/etude/analyse-performance-thermique-logements-parisiens). Cahier n° 4.</footnote>
tenants' association, with a continuous stream of letters, exchanges and complaints against the landlord, works like a council of co-owners, who readily regard the landlord as a service provider. Among the main grievances, the issue of district central heating is a recurring one. Tenants have no individual control over their consumption, and the system, which is poorly maintained and distributes heat unevenly from floor to floor, is a source of great dissatisfaction within the residence.

<figure><img src="image_6.png" /><figcaption>Image 6: Building facade © SAPHIR, 2023</figcaption></figure>

- The third building selected is an "intergenerational and inclusive housing" residence, to be delivered in 2023, in the southwest suburbs (Yvelines department) of Paris. This new, R+3 building has been awarded a "My Healthy Home" label, as its "inclusive" housing targets the elderly and disabled (out of 95 units, 14 are reserved for tenants aged over 65 and/or disabled). It focuses on social support for residents: an activity manager accompanies these populations from a shared room (40 m2), provided for residents' use. The residence comprises three buildings, including social rental, middle-income rental and home-ownership. The building is built to the latest thermal and acoustic standards, and features a high degree of integration of home automation for shutter opening, VMC (Mechanical Ventilation System), door security code and individual heating thermostat. Some homes have balconies in addition to communal areas opening onto the city (see image no. 7). The fact that the landlord displays a "My Healthy Home" label and a high level of technical performance makes residents even more demanding.
<figure><img src="image_7.png" /><figcaption>Image 7: Building facade © SAPHIR, 2024</figcaption></figure>

## Faced with thermal inequalities

According to the National Observatory of Energy Poverty, three million households are in a situation of energy insecurity, and 69% of the French population declare that they have restricted home heating to avoid high bills (ONPE 2020). Several surveys show that, in housing that consumes too much energy (thermal insulation problems, air infiltration through windows, leaks and dampness in the walls), families control their consumption according to the financial effort represented by the bills (Robert 2021; Stojilovska, Yoon, and Robert 2021). Some residents resort to energy restriction and load reduction strategies, with fewer daily showers, changes in diet (limiting meals or eating only cold ones), use of auxiliary equipment (heating blankets, etc.). Others are resigned to the fact that they have to pay the extra costs, causing major financial difficulties and severe "residential stress". In this respect, the notion of energy performance, as it is applied today, ignores the daily practices of residents to reduce their bills, accentuating a feeling of powerlessness in the face of a climate challenge perceived as distant (Fijalkow and Maresca 2019), or even perceived as an injustice suffered suggesting that "it's always the same people who pay". According to the Fondation pour le Logement des Défavorisés, adults exposed to energy insecurity have an increased frequency of certain chronic pathologies, including chronic bronchitis, osteoarthritis, anxiety, depression and headaches. Finally, several respiratory and allergic symptoms, such as wheezing, asthma attacks, hay fever, rhinorrhea and eye irritation, are also more frequently observed in individuals in energy poverty<fnref n="5" />. Among adults exposed to energy poverty, 48% suffer from migraines and 41% from anxiety and depression, compared with 32% and 29% respectively in unexposed households. In children, this exposure leads to a four-fold increase in wheezing symptoms (Fondation Abbé Pierre 2025).

<footnote n="5">⁵ https://ancreai.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Plaquette-Quand-cest-le-logement-qui-rend-malade-web.pdf</footnote>
## Faced with the gas crisis: caulking and resignation in HBM

In the HBM building in the Paris ring road, the level of health literacy for housing is not equal among all tenants. For example, in autumn 2023, the heating system, which relies on the distribution of gas to each apartment, creates a sense of precariousness in the face of rising energy prices. This leads to symptoms of "residential stress" (sleep, anxiety, fatigue) for many tenants. DIY practices and draught-proofing strategies to limit financial burdens are on the increase. Some tenants force themselves to "heat less", which causes real discomfort and difficulty in concentrating, especially for young people and teleworkers. Rachelle (50, hospital executive and single mother, living with a teenager) highlights health problems, as she considers the cost of heating her home to be "excessive" for social housing. For many of the tenants interviewed, it makes the rent difficult to afford, leading them to claim that the recommended 19 degrees is not enough. She is happy to draw on her knowledge of health issues, and our visit reinforces her argument. Other tenants, however, focus on the economic angle. A neighbor with a modest pension, for example, says: "She's considering leaving the residence, even though she's doing very well. Not because of the rent, which isn't that cheap. But if you add gas, it's crazy. We all have a gas budget...". During our interviews, several tenants stated that their radiators had never been purged, even though this is the landlord's responsibility. The delays are long, and sometimes the repairs are deemed impossible by the managers. Tenants are therefore obliged to take care of the repairs themselves.
As a result, residents react differently to the heating issue. Older tenants from working-class backgrounds are aware of health issues, but fall back on individual strategies to solve their problems. The more recent arrivals, closer to the middle classes, try to "make their voice heard" by mobilizing the health argument. But the prevailing attitude is one of resignation. The sobriety imposed by the energy context leads residents to buy electric blankets and multiply coverings.

According to tenants, the major "residential stress" in these buildings results from the absence of a clear energy renovation project on the part of the landlord. Thermal renovation from the outside seems difficult, given the heritage nature of the building. As for insulation from the inside, the stumbling block is the narrowness of the rooms (see image no. 11 on the right) and the financial and logistical difficulty for the landlord to rehouse the residents on a temporary basis. Without a solution, residents feel abandoned. The building's location and heritage value are blocking factors. They feel they are being forced to pay high heating bills for the "beauty of the architecture", which they don't care about.

## Heating inequalities in a Parisian low-income housing project

Lack of control over housing conditions is a factor in residential stress, as demonstrated by the HLM residence in the Belle Quartier area. In winter, this residence has collective heating, supplied by the gas network of the Compagnie Parisienne de Chauffage Urbain. However, in recent years, the maintenance of the collective boiler room has led to recurrent heating malfunctions. The boiler room is fundamentally a "playground" that
differentiates between the different levels of the building. According to tenants, the heating ducts have never been cleaned, causing them to scale up and making it difficult for heat to circulate within the building. As a result, the upper floors are less well heated than the lower ones, which are subject to the high temperatures required to keep the top floors sufficiently warm. "In winter, it's too cold, it was 16.5° in the flat, so it doesn't work, à every time, we grumble, it takes two days to get the temperature back up" (Daphné, 45, nursery director living on the fourth floor). Tenants claim they have no means of control over their individual radiators, due to oxidized taps (see image no. 8 left). This impossibilitý to regulate the heating is perceived, for tenants on the lower and therefore overheated floors, as wasteful. Jean-Claude (68, civil servant in the building trade), who lives on the first floor above the boiler, explains that he leaves the windows open to let the air in during the winter because it's too hot in his apartment. For the residents on the upper floors, on the other hand, thermal dissatisfaction is a source of annoyance, given the charges paid for a result that leaves much to be desired and forces them to dress warmly. In fact, we have noted that members of the upper social classes are more likely to live on high floors with poor heating. But they don't always notice. For these relatively well-off social categories, dissatisfaction mainly concerns the loss of control over their homes that this entails.

In summer, the concrete structure of the building, as well as the bay windows, do not provide adequate insulation. During heatwaves, respondents unanimously describe the heat in their homes as "unbearable": the effects on their well-being, whether in terms of mental health, comfort or even physical health, are often emphasized. But tenants don't turn to the landlord in the same way they do for the cold. They deploy a diversitý of individual strategies, such as resorting to auxiliary equipment (fans, fans, misters), ancestral techniques (closing shutters, making draughts), or simply fleeing the housing that has become "unliveable" by going to friends' or their second homes.

<figure><img src="image_8.png" /></figure>

<figure><img src="image_9.png" /></figure>
Fig. 8 left: Oxidized faucets. Image 9 right: "I was cold... The janitor came to check, there was a 3-4° difference between the bedroom and the living room." (Camélia, 72, retired). The discrepancy between the furnishings and the window frame is indicative of the social gap between the landlord and the occupants. © SAPHIR, 2023.

The bottom line is that apartments on the lower levels, which have no access to direct light, have a better quality of life, as they are better heated and not directly exposed to the summer heatwave. Conversely, apartments on the upper levels, which enjoy a "pleasant view of the Jardin des Plantes", never manage to get satisfactory heat in winter, and in summer, the heat makes their homes uncomfortable.

It is by making use of their high level of health literacy in the home that the privileged social group, which has a strong capacity to mobilize against the landlord (quality of letters and documentation), demands control of the heating and, more broadly, different governance of the building.

## Illiteracy, a factor of inequality in recent social housing

In the recently-delivered HLM residence in the south-western suburbs, the comments made in the educational cafés at the end of winter 2024 mainly concern the orientation of the buildings in relation to which the thermal question is asked. It seems that some of the top-floor units have not been insulated, and indeed the entire top building. As a result, we met residents who wanted to understand the reasons for these defects, which are attributable to the builder, but for which the HLM landlord is being strongly questioned. Coming from working-class backgrounds, concern for a job well done is as important as health issues. One tenant says that "her windows aren't fitted properly, because they don't fit together properly and let the air in", and deplores the fact that technical inspections do not target problem dwellings. The tenants' collective speculates on the building's construction method: "Construction can be done like that too, we build the first floor, the first, the second and then the third, we realize that some products are missing, but we carry on anyway".

For these tenants, the heating issue is both financial and health-related. Brigitte (70, retired) says she hasn't been able to keep herself warm all winter: "You can't imagine how much I've paid in electricity bills, not to mention the fact that I've always been ill with respiratory problems, and everyone knows it". In this building, which has been awarded the “My Healthy Home” label, several messages are posted by the landlord in the common areas to encourage residents to consume less energy and exercise more: "consume calories rather than electricity, take the stairs rather than the elevator". On each step, colors and messages add to the aesthetic appeal and motivate users to use them more often.
<figure><img src="image_10.png" /><figcaption>Image 10: left connected devices right test with inhabitant and thermal camera © Research team, 2024</figcaption></figure>

To enhance the health aspect, the apartments are home-automated, i.e. equipped with networked, remote-controlled electrical appliances. But it's a technology that tenants find very difficult to manage: "*The radiators aren't easy to understand, to get them to work. Towel dryers are the same: you need a 5-year degree to use them.*" In this case, a reversal occurs, we move from the analysis of literacy to that of digital illiteracy, i.e., the "situation of an adult who has not sufficiently mastered the uses of the usual digital tools to access and process information and act autonomously in everyday life".<fnref n="6" /> Digital illiteracy in this building is a major stress factor. The double-flow thermodynamic VMC<fnref n="7" /> (auxiliary heating system in winter and air-conditioning system in summer) installed in these buildings generates confusion among the group of tenants: they confess to not knowing how it works, and to feeling worried, guilty and inferiorized for not knowing how to use it. The question of the “My Healthy Home” label seems to weigh on them like an obligation to handle tools that are beyond their understanding. Tenants from working-class and older backgrounds feel this difficulty as an inequality both social and generational. It reinforces their unease about construction defects and their feeling that health is not treated any better here than elsewhere in the social housing stock.

## Faced with sound inequalities

Noise is responsible for 48,000 new cases of heart disease and 12,000 premature deaths every year in Europe (World Health Organization 2011). In addition, chronic noise exposure increases the risk of cardio-metabolic pathologies such as hypertension, cardiovascular disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes (Basner and McGuire 2018). In Île-de-France, exposure to transport noise can lead to a loss of 13 months' life for a healthy resident of a dense zone

<footnote n="6">⁶ Digital illiteracy, sometimes called "Illectronisme", according to the *Agence nationale de lutte contre l'illettrisme*, 90% of French people own at least one digital device enabling them to connect to the Internet, but ¼ of French people say they are not at ease with digital technology.</footnote>

<footnote n="7">⁷ Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery</footnote>
(Bruitparif, 2021). With regard to inequalities in noise insulation, while more than 20% of households complain about noise, 33% of the poorest households face this difficulty (Damon 2023). In France, around 18% of French people, i.e. 12 million people, consider their homes to be too noisy, exacerbating social inequalities in acoustic comfort (Godefroy et al. 2007). Sleep disturbance is the most serious consequence of exposure to environmental noise, affecting many aspects of health (Basner and McGuire 2018). The impact of noise goes beyond physical health: it also causes anxiety disorders, concentration difficulties, and affects young people's education, with an increased risk of academic failure due to concentration difficulties in noisy environments. This phenomenon highlights the social repercussions of noise, affecting both individual and collective well-being (Blond, Mietlicki, and Evrard 2023).

## DIY and individualism in HBM

In the HBM building on the outskirts of Paris, the issue of noise is present in all the speeches, but does not lead to convergent denunciations. The notion of fatigue and stress is mainly expressed by a health executive. The other tenants only mention inconveniences. The wooden floor, which creaks under footsteps, transmits noise from neighbors. Some tenants have installed linoleum on the floor, but they say it makes no difference. The landlord is often accused of not taking charge of this issue, which disturbs individual and collective peace and quiet. One tenant (50 years old, executive secretary) says she hears the elevator in one of her rooms: "It's terribly noisy". Apartments overlooking the inner courtyard are quieter, but are punctuated by the use of communal areas, notably the garbage cans. The daily noise is the source of routine-related fatigue that is not well accepted. Another tenant (45 years old, health executive) mentions "young people in the courtyard of the building partying", which prevents her from sleeping, and recalls that the window of her son's bedroom overlooks the street, which is very noisy. A friend installed "a special window for him, similar to those installed near airports", which represents a gain in comfort. For most residents, the issue of health is not linked to noise pollution, and they manage to cope with it by tinkering around the edges, insofar as they appreciate "how lucky we are to live in a low-income housing estate in Paris" (35-year-old manager, arrived five years ago).
<figure><img src="image_11.png" /></figure>

Image 11: left, use of carpets for noise insulation, right, cramped rooms © SAPHIR, 2023. The library testifies to the cultural capital of the occupants, which was not foreseen at the outset of this HBM.

## Less noise in the neighborhood

In the social housing building in central Paris, poor soundproofing is widely cited by residents, who claim to be stressed and tired by this type of pollution. But the sources of dissatisfaction differ. The most recent tenants note that while the environment of the residence remains very calm, even bucolic with the Jardin des plantes, the proximity of the hospital remains a source of noise pollution for the tenants: "All the ambulances go there." However, the oldest tenants explain that while double glazing reduces noise from outside, it increases sensitivity to noise in the building. It seems that the complaints concern the more "social" tenants who have moved in more recently. One tenant is only bothered by the couple upstairs, who have recently moved in, and the regular parties. She uses earplugs to limit night-time noise pollution. However, the poor insulation of the building and the general poor quality of the construction are also criticised by older tenants. One tenant (Anne, 72, artist and musician) complains about the noise that circulates in the building "from bottom to top". She explains it in her own way: "It's like all HLM buildings, Paris Habitat and others... they weren't always built with quality materials. It's a well-known fact that noise travels vertically through the building. So it's me who's bothering the floor above me, etc., and I'm bothered by the floor below me, by the third floor." While she knows her downstairs neighbors and "has a lot of sympathy for the gentleman who's an architect", her wife suffers from a disturbing mental pathology: "It happens quite frequently around two or four in the morning that I'm woken up because she talks so loudly. Not to say that she screams."
The poor soundproofing of the house and the noise pollution from the neighborhood bothered her in the exercise of her profession as a musician when she worked on TV. She mentions the bedroom as the noisiest room. In addition to noise nuisance within the building, she also complains about parties: "Every night, until two, four in the morning, it was racketing [imitates music noises] (...), in the evening, at two in the morning, it was shaking". Ultimately, the argument relating to the technical quality of the building enables the oldest tenants to point out the fatigue caused by neighborhood noise.

## Mobilization against noise and mental health hazards in new social housing

During the educational café at the HLM in the south-western suburbs, a number of strong reactions to the quality of the buildings came to light. For these residents, noise is a very sensitive issue, and immediately raises the question of mental health. No sooner had we explained the research project than Julie (delivery driver, 45) voiced her dissatisfaction with the noise problems and the manager's lack of response. "You can hear the front doors, you can hear the garbage room, you can hear the neighbor, you can hear the doors squeaking. It's very, very complicated, but I don't get any feedback, except 'the insulation meets standards, blah blah blah...' so I ask them for the standards, they're unable to send them, and they tell us they'd done it (the test) empty. Of course, when it's empty, there's no noise. So, all that has an effect on mental health.

His intervention opened up a debate among the tenant's present, who, in addition to questioning the quality of the buildings' construction, reported the landlord's calls for civic-mindedness, enjoining them to minimize interior noise. Hélène (unemployed, 50) says, "At night, the boiler makes an incredible racket. So I had a technician come to fix it, but he told me it was normal" (see image no. 12). Sonia (45, mother): "It creates tension, of course! Just now, I could hear some noise... The neighbor wasn't doing anything special, she was allowed to vacuum, but that bothered my daughter. She adds, "They didn't put any insulation in. When you hit the wall, it's hollow. She adds, incriminating the landlord: "They know how our walls were built... Because here, it's been botched." The tenants feel under house arrest, and Julie (30, unemployed single mother) dreams: "If I could leave and go and live in the Château de Versailles, if I had the money, I'd do it right away. I can only live here because of financial constraints". Sévérine (55) is a territorial assistant for the APF France association, working with disabled people. During the individual interview, she comments: "there's a defect in the walls, I can hear the noise of the elevator from my room, access to the terrace is very dangerous because the step is more than 25 cm high, and I have to keep the shutter closed all the time because of the vis-à-vis".
<figure><img src="image_12.png" /><figcaption>Image 12: Noisy boilers © SAPHIR, 2024</figcaption></figure>

Alerted by the heating noise, Anne-Sophie (employee, 45) called in a technician who advised her to heat between 2 and 3 hours to avoid the whistling of the VMC (Mechanical Ventilation System), "which is unbearable", she insists. Julie, Sonia, Sévérine and Anne-Sophie feel justified in pointing out these malfunctions, and have decided to raise their "voices" based on factual criteria: "construction standards". The tenants of these newer units feel a strong sense of injustice at not being listened to by the manager. They feel ignored by the inadequate responses of the landlord and technicians. They recognize themselves as belonging to different social classes, but they agree on the need for "unity" to "shout louder" and be listened to by the landlord. In this housing estate, noise is clearly understood by most residents as a health problem that needs to be addressed.

## Conclusions

The examples of social housing we have chosen illustrate three types of construction and management, three types of population with unequal possibilities in the face of residential stress caused by noise and thermal issues. Within them, we also note social and cultural differences in the face of thermal and noise problems, which are reflected in the dominant tone of each building. In social housing, the "exit" alternative presented in Albert Hirschman's theory is not feasible, and residents are fully aware of this. Only a few HLM tenants in the fifth arrondissement of Paris are able to relax in their country homes. But for the majority, it's particularly complex to change social housing in Ile-de-France in the current context, marked by high demand resulting from the tightness of the private market. This leaves two possible
postures: loyalty or voice. The first solution is by far the most popular, especially in the HBM building, where long-established residents are resigned to thermal and insulation problems, and practice individual DIY. Mobilization (voice) is embryonic and comes from new arrivals whose cultural capital is higher, as is health literacy in the home. We also observe similar levels of literacy among the working classes of the South-West suburbs, where residents immediately understood our approach and took the landlord to task. Several anti-noise initiatives have mobilized them collectively. Mobilization is also strong in HLM housing in upmarket districts, where the LSH is well developed among households with high cultural capital, thanks to the existence of a genuine organized tenants' association.

The paradox here is that populations with a high level of economic and cultural capital have as high a level of LSH as those who are socially at the opposite end of the spectrum. However, for the latter, health is a kind of "life capital" that enables them to exist, while the others are more concerned with the art of living. The least well-off are more likely to stress sleep disorders, breathing difficulties or mobility problems, while the most well-off will mention nuisances and fatigue. Inequalities in social housing therefore have a significant impact on health. While high levels of literacy support residents' ability to mobilize, they also entail different modes of action, strictly linked to the building and its operation: a new building that is curiously unsuitable, and an old one that is rather satisfactory.

Surprisingly, in the middle strata, the level of LSH and mobilization is lower, which we also attribute to the morphological characteristics of the buildings (HBM) and the difficulty of solving certain technical problems. The lack of heating clearly raises a feeling of injustice when confronted with the preservation of heritage, lack of maintenance and technical opacity. Health is unequally evoked in this case. In all three cases studied, the problem of sound insulation is more likely to give rise to health concerns. It gives rise to a feeling of injustice when it results from poor design, and generates "cultural" acceptance depending on the environment and its geography.

Ultimately, while the provision of ‘healthy and hygienic housing’ is historically foundational to social housing (Fourcaut 2014), today, limited budgets and geographically-driven allocation policies obscure actual housing needs. We can therefore ask ourselves whether the inadequate handling of this issue within the sector itself is not leading to a weakening of its landlord-housed relationships and its social representation in the city.

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