Published 1 hour ago • loading... • Updated 1 hour ago

Paris’s cheapest rooms are becoming too hot to live in

Residents of Paris's chambres de bonne face mounting health risks as worsening heat waves render tiny, poorly ventilated rooftop rooms intolerable. Anatoly Novikov, a 23-year-old Russian student at Institut Polytechnique de Paris, calls his nine-square-meter space a "worthy sacrifice" for its location.
Originally designed over two centuries ago as servants' quarters in Haussmannian buildings, these spaces were never built to withstand modern 40 Celsius summers; heat-absorbing rooftops and poor ventilation create dangerous indoor temperatures up to 10 degrees higher than outside.
Close to 55,000 people live in these rooms according to INSEE, France's national statistics bureau. A 2011 APUR study found 20% of occupants are over 60, while a 2024 study reported top-floor residences reach temperatures 10 degrees Celsius higher than outside.
Dominique Naert, director of the masters program in energy-efficient renovation at the École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, speculates these rooms may become illegal to rent out. Many long-term residents cannot move due to financial constraints.
With student populations in Paris rising 30% over 20 years and living costs climbing, climate change threatens these last affordable housing options. The crisis raises urgent questions about where vulnerable residents will relocate if these units become uninhabitable.

Insights by Ground AI