An Article About Subsidized Housing in France
Channel: slobomotion
Date: 2012-07-03

The real estate site is credited here and the article credits appear to be LE PARISIEN.

copyright 2012 Lisa B. Falour, B.S., M.B.A. all rights reserved LISA, INC. (EURL) cutecatfaith.com

On this channel, my other YouTube channel CUTECATFAITH, and Dailymotion (under "LisaFalour") I post clips about life in France for an expat.  I usually vlog in English, my mother tongue.

When a social benefit is means-tested, follow-up and monitoring must occur periodically.  Honest French citizens might genuinely not know that they no longer qualify to receive something.  Case in point:  last year, I qualified for a TINY monthly stipend (less than 100 euros) to compensate my spouse, who often has to drive me places (I am disabled).  My health no longer allows me to drive in France.  Of course I could do it in an emergency, but I'm not supposed to.  After a short period of time, he felt uncomfortable about accepting this small stipend.  I said, why?  They asked and we provided full and accurate information.  If this is something we qualify for, shouldn't we accept it?  No, he decided.  So I wrote to the administration and asked that the stipend cease.  Many months went by, and nothing happened.  I wrote again, this time via registered mail.  Finally, the small stipend seems to have stopped.  

A large portion of the French who qualify for benefits, such as a basic welfare monthly stipend, do not even bother applying for them.  For one thing, they are small amounts of money, are taxable as far as I recall, and these are a proud people who would rather turn to family for help or even do without.  It might be hard to grasp, but food stamps do not exist here.  There is a famous food bank but it only operates during the winter months.  Gleaning is legal here in France.  My spouse didn't want any potential question to arrive, ever, about the tiny stipend, which would imply fraud or deceit (?!) on our part and would likely require repayment.  His attitude is rather typically French.  

U.S. Social Security has admitted they owe me back benefits for disability and a stipend, but they've lost my dossier three times in the past ten years!  No French doctor will fill out a form in English, nor can they divulge a single thing about my health to anyone -- not my spouse, not another doctor.  French law.  Medical secrecy.  For me to pay for certified translations of U.S. documents (it's well over 100 euros per page) is something I'm unwilling to do a fourth time, and to ask the same unwilling doctors AGAIN to break the law in France for me and provide current details ... I wouldn't dare.  So, I paid into the U.S. Social Security system from age 15 to 37, for nothing.  I still fill out a U.S. tax form annually, as required.  

I'm available as an expatriation consultant, by the way.  It's legal and declared here in France.  I might be able to guide you through the ins and outs of a visit here, studies, work, immigration ... it's a different legal system, banking is different.  Everything is different from what I knew in the United States!