Fires Reveal Housing Crunch

"In the past four months, 48 men, women, and children like Karamoko - African immigrants living in substandard Paris buildings - have been killed in three separate fires... Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, moving to address the crisis, announced Thursday that the government was ready to hand over land that had been set aside for Paris's failed 2012 Olympic Games bid if it was used for low-cost housing.

The problem, though, is much larger, say housing experts. As private rents have shot up in recent years, more and more Parisians have come to rely on a limited stock of government- subsidized public housing."

Thanks to Chris Steins