THE FONDATION

ABBÉ PIERRE

2015-2016 to 2019-2020

fiscal years

Organisation funded by public charity

October 2022

Executive Summary

The Fondation Abbé Pierre carries out its social mission to protect

the poorly housed

The “Fondation Abbé Pierre pour le logement des défavorisés” created in 1990, is a

member of the Emmaüs movement which brings together the organisations affiliated to the

Emmaüs France federation in France. Its links with the latter are organic and financial. They

are a particular feature of the foundation landscape. It was previously audited by the Court of

Accounts in 2006, without any major criticism.

The Abbé Pierre Foundation benefits from an unwavering reputation inherited from the

fight led by its founder, a defender of the reception and housing of disadvantaged or

desocialised persons. The foundation is dedicated to an ambitious stated purpose, as the issue

of housing mobilises processes that are long and complex to implement.

Recognised as a public-interest organisation since 1992, the foundation has developed

day care and boarding facilities whose financial arrangements, which take full advantage of

public aid for housing, have become models. These arrangements have been taken over by

non-profit organisations to provide, in conjunction with building organisations, reception and

accommodation facilities which they then manage. The Fondation Abbé Pierre certifies

structures that respect its charter for each type of accommodation and has thus created a

network that it runs.

Initially designed to build and rehabilitate housing, the foundation’s programmes have

gradually been extended to the fight against fuel poverty and unhealthy living conditions.

Almost five hundred partners are responsible for construction and rehabilitation, and form a

network maintained and run by the foundation’s nine regional agencies.

The Foundation has strengthened legal aid to defend the rights of persons to remain in

housing and to live decently. It has included owners of run-down co-ownerships in difficulty

(including in rural areas) in the scope of the population it supports, and has extended its scope

of action, on the occasion of the SARS-Cov-2 health crisis, to access to hygiene, health and

food.

The foundation’s actions give it a broad social role, at the crossroads of public policies

(housing, health, social, etc.), for the benefit of housing disadvantaged persons.

It does not sufficiently exercise the internal audits necessary

for its own protection

In the name of its founder, the foundation sets out the principle of investing as much as

possible in concrete actions falling under its social missions. However, insufficient attention to

support functions and risk prevention weakens its governance. Furthermore, the foundation

has shown a certain reluctance to take into account the warnings and recommendations

reproduced year after year by the “Don en confiance (Donate with Confidence)” charter

committee and by its auditor. Audits are insufficient, with the risk of placing the institution in an

insecure situation. The foundation is a member of the Emmaüs France federation. The

obligations attached to this membership sometimes place it in a delicate legal situation, with

consequences that have not been sufficiently considered, whether it be the management of

legacies, the joint collection organised with Emmaüs Solidarity or the aid granted to the

Emmaüs France federation for living quarters for the companions.

Similarly, until recently, the Fondation Abbé Pierre had not taken stock of its

responsibilities in terms of personal data protection, and was thus exposing itself to a breach

of its obligations. Finally, it is only now becoming aware of the need to have a system for

preventing and dealing with conflicts of interest.

Its search for innovative solutions led it at the end of 2014 to create, jointly with AG2R

La Mondiale, a solidarity investment company, SOLIFAP. The foundation’s intention was to

have a company capable of providing, in addition to its property function, support for

associations in project engineering and assistance in granting loans. While the foundation and

its subsidiary should have full decision-making autonomy in relation to each other, it was found

that the two entities were not fully separated. The analysis also reveals a practice of selling

certain properties held by the foundation in high demand areas at a discount, to the benefit of

this subsidiary, which is jointly owned with private investors. If this scheme is intended to

provide a sufficient return to attract private capital to the corresponding operations, and thus

to give leverage to the foundation’s actions, such discounts must necessarily be strictly

regulated and capped.

The foundation has stepped up its advocacy work

Advocacy, including proposing amendments and denouncing the inadequacies of

housing policies, is considered to be an integral part of the foundation’s vocation, and it intends

to develop this role beyond national borders within the European Union. One of the vehicles

for this advocacy is the annual report on the state of poor housing (RML), which has a

considerable audience. The proportion of resources devoted to this advocacy mission has

increased significantly in recent years, which should be made clear to donors and could more

generally encourage the foundation to reflect strategically on the weight it intends to give to

operational action in any case.

Moreover, having become a key player in the housing of disadvantaged persons, the

foundation submits legislative proposals to members of parliament without having, until 2021,

requested its registration in the directory of interest representatives kept by the High Authority

for Transparency in Public Life (HATVP).