A/HRC/43/43/Add.2 eviction. Homelessness is increasing at a significant pace as an acute shortage in emergency shelters and longer-term housing deepens. Migrants fleeing civil conflict or extreme poverty, who are living in some of the most egregious conditions, have put additional strain on national and local governments to ensure adequate and affordable housing for all. This situation, which includes barriers to access to justice and the opening of the housing market to private investors, has resulted in a housing sector under siege, despite Government efforts. Immediate Government attention is required to ensure that the human right to adequate housing is fully respected and enjoyed by all. 91. France must be commended for enshrining the right to housing in its national legal order. The Special Rapporteur welcomes the fact that France has put in place laws, policies and programmes intended to guarantee the right to adequate housing. For example, the act establishing the enforceable right to housing makes that right justiciable, a national hotline has been established to assist in accessing emergency services, and substantial resources have traditionally been allocated towards social housing and housing benefits, making France one of the top spenders in the European Union. France must increase its efforts to ensure that its commitment to the right to adequate housing reaches all people, particularly the most vulnerable and marginalized groups. 92. In this regard, the Special Rapporteur recommends that the Government of France: (a) Review its national housing strategy – the Five-year Plan for Housing First and the Fight against Homelessness (2018–2022) – and make any necessary amendments to ensure that it is fully consistent with international human rights law and with its obligations, as outlined in the report of the Special Rapporteur on this issue (A/HRC/37/53); (b) Improve cooperation and coordination between the national, regional and local governments in addressing homelessness and other violations of the right to housing; (c) With respect to social and subsidized housing: (i) Immediately reverse the decision to scale back social housing expenditure, which constitutes a retrogressive measure that is contrary to international human rights law; (ii) Retain and upgrade where necessary social housing units, and ensure that resources are available to increase the supply of social housing to meet demand; (iii) Prohibit the sale of social housing to financial entities such as private equity and asset management firms, particularly in areas identified as having a tense housing market; (iv) Ensure that housing benefits are set at levels that are commensurate with household income and regional housing costs, so that beneficiaries are not required to pay more than a reasonable percentage of their income on housing; (d) Improve the implementation of the act establishing the enforceable right to housing to ensure that applicants identified as a priority for social housing or rehousing are offered a decent and affordable home close to their current place of residence within six months; to this end: (i) Further enhance investment in social housing, particularly for the most disadvantaged, on a priority basis; (ii) Increase fines for subnational governments that fail to construct sufficient social housing, and explicitly stipulate that new social housing must be constructed, to ensure that the payment of fines cannot replace the effective implementation of the right to housing; (iii) Develop creative ways to enhance the efficacy of the act establishing the enforceable right to housing, such as by augmenting the number of private market housing units that it rents or has otherwise acquired in order to ensure 17