French landlords are demanding sexual favours from tenants ?

The BBC and Libé tie the stories into the broader issue of the French housing crisis. Property prices in Paris have soared in recent years, like those in most other European cities. Paris being more strictly limited geographically and politically than other cities (only the twenty arrondisements of Paris are the city proper, housing around 2.5 million people: The surrounding Paris region is home to another 8 million - but these do not merit the status of Parisians. As it is impossible to build upwards in the capital, housing is finite: This is made worse by the fact that thousands of apartments lie empty. Jeudi Noir, the militant housing pressure group which the BBC references in its report, advocates forcibly opening these empty properties to house needy families and individuals: Even moderate associations, including the Mayor of Paris's office, want to ensure that empty flats are used.