There is a sentence making the rounds among local officials lately: "It's up to us to find the solutions." Not a rallying cry. A statement of exhaustion.
The numbers speak for themselves. Saint-Tropez has lost roughly a thousand permanent residents in seven years, according to figures cited ahead of the 2026 municipal elections. The mechanics are familiar to anyone who has spent a winter here: landlords who earn more in three summer months than in a full year of standard rental; rents that bear no relation to local wages; permanent residents squeezed out by seasonal demand. In Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, close to half of employers say the lack of housing is a major obstacle to seasonal recruitment. The peninsula is no exception.
What Nice-Matin's investigation lays bare is the creeping frustration of elected officials watching the state do very little. The Communauté de communes du Golfe de Saint-Tropez has been working on several fronts, including its Local Housing Programme, which targets new primary residences and social housing. But land is scarce, prices are steep, and the attribution rules for social housing are still being reformed.
Saisonniers struggle to find anywhere to sleep within a reasonable distance of where they work. Young locals who grew up here end up commuting in from Cogolin or further. The village, in other words, is slowly hollowing itself out.
And so the officials are doing what they can, without waiting for Paris to notice.
