As rents rise in Marseille, anti-Airbnb activists take matters into own hands
Once shunned by well-heeled tourists, France's sprawling port city Marseille is attracting more and more visitors with its southern sunshine and cutting-edge culture. But as the city prepares for a bumper summer boosted by the 2024 Olympics, tension is reaching boiling point between landlords looking to profit from holiday lets and activists who say an Airbnb boom is squeezing the supply of affordable housing.
Issued on:
"Are there still real Marseille locals living here, or is it mostly Airbnbs?"
Lucile, a tourist visiting for the weekend, asks the question as she strolls through Le Panier, the city's oldest neighbourhood and now one of its most popular areas to stay.
Its meandering alleys, once known as a haven for criminals and sex workers, are today lined with improvised plant pots and colourful street art. They attract thousands of visitors for whom staying in one of the neighbourhood's old-world buildings is all part of the charm.
Lucile booked an apartment for her trip on Airbnb, the holiday rental giant. "There were loads and loads of options in Le Panier," she told RFI.
"But I get the impression that it's one of the parts of Marseille that is still alive with locals and not solely touristy."
Robert, an artist in his 70s who has lived in Le Panier for the past 16 years, takes a different view.
"The neighbourhood is losing its soul," he says.
"It used to be really friendly – everyone knew everyone and lived alongside each other, and that's disappearing now. It's a bit sad."
Housing squeeze
Le Panier has become the emblem of the new wave of tourism in Marseille, but the effects can be felt all over town.
The city estimates that some 11,600 properties are listed on Airbnb for at least part of the year.
Of these, a 2021 study found, around 25 percent were let to tourists for more than 120 days a year – effectively taking them out of the long-term rental market.
Critics say it's among the factors that have contributed to a housing crisis in Marseille, where renters report it has become harder than ever to find an affordable place to live.
"For now, I'm lucky enough to have a wonderful landlady who allows me to live here," said Robert. "But the rent on my studio – I'm a painter – has nearly doubled in two years."
He won't be able to afford the lease for much longer, he told RFI.
'Becoming a business'
In Le Panier and the surrounding district, the number of properties declared as second homes – which make up many of those rented to tourists – more than doubled from 4.6 percent in 2014 to 12.7 percent in 2020, according to national statistics office Insee.
That's the equivalent of an extra 1,000 homes that are not occupied by permanent residents.
Sandrine, who has lived in the neighbourhood since the 1990s, has been known to sublet her apartment while she's out town for the summer.
"I've done it so I can't cast any stones," said Sandrine, who stressed that she didn't list her home on Airbnb, preferring instead to rent multiple times to the same family.
But for others, "it's becoming a business", she told RFI.
"These are owners who don't live in Marseille, so they're far away from the problems that it can generate. We don't know them, they're people who buy apartments to make them into holiday rentals and then they divvy up the profits."
City regulations
The city has sought to regulate Airbnb rentals, especially those whose hosts let them out professionally.
Since 2022, all hosts have been required to register with the city council. Those letting their primary residence can only do so for up to 120 days a year, after which the platform automatically blocks their listing.
Owners who want to rent out a second home must apply to the council for permission, which is granted for four years at a time and limited to a single property.
Anyone letting two or more properties has to add stock back into the long-term rental market by buying an equivalent-sized commercial property in the same area and converting it into housing.
But some hosts continue to evade the restrictions. Checks last summer found nearly 1,500 listings under fake registration numbers and, with Marseille hosting sailing events and football matches for the 2024 Olympics, the incentive to break the rules could be stronger than ever this year.
Guerilla tactics
Marseille's housing problems go beyond Airbnb. The city's high poverty rate means demand for social housing is higher than ever, yet much of the existing stock is ageing and new construction projects are slow to be approved.
Meanwhile private properties have seen prices climb by roughly 15 percent per metre squared since the Covid pandemic, boosted by both investors and newcomers relocating from elsewhere in France.
Yet Airbnbs, with their telltale key safes and flux of suitcase-wheeling renters, have become the most obvious target of frustration.
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Last March, one host in La Plaine – another newly hip neighbourhood – found his holiday apartment vandalised, the wall and furniture daubed with slogans including "Airbnb is driving rents up, get out" and "Apartments are for inhabitants".
In October, a group of people describing themselves as fed-up Marseille residents claimed to have "kidnapped" 40 key safes in protest.
In November, wanted posters appeared in some of the city's busiest streets, featuring the names and addresses of Airbnb hosts alongside the legend: "Certified neighbourhood killer".
And in December, another group of anonymous activists announced they had stolen homewares from bedding to cutlery to lightbulbs from a number of holiday apartments.
"My name was published on a blog, along with false information about my property and the profits I earned from it," one unnamed host told Le Figaro newspaper.
"I find it really sad it's come to this, to the point where it might even dissuade tourists from coming to Marseille right before the Olympic Games."
Olympic influx
Some 2 million tourists are expected to descend on Marseille for the Olympics this summer.
The city council's housing chief, Patrick Amico, has said he sympathises with locals' "exasperation" with Airbnb, and stresses that the council now turns down more than three-quarters of applications to rent out second homes.
But with the platform bringing the city €4.2 million in tourist tax between November 2022 and October 2023 – up from €2.8 million the year before – the authorities are unlikely to join activists in calling for Airbnb to leave Marseille altogether.
This story was reported in French by Justine Rodier. The English version was written by Jessica Phelan.
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