Sévak Kulinkian

With Hameaux Légers, Sévak Kulinkian offers an innovative, ecological, non-speculative, low-cost, and solidarity-based housing solution to the current housing crisis in France. His innovative and replicable model aims to transform rural living, promoting a more ecological and supportive community lifestyle while revitalizing rural communities. Through close collaboration with town halls and other local territorial authorities, Hameaux Légers has become a widespread territorial project with ambitious scale-up goals. In the long run, Hameaux Légers aspires to revolutionize rural lifestyles and become a nationwide reference for rural living.

In France, rural territories are strongly affected by a housing crisis linked to increasing property prices, rising demand for rural living and strict land-use regulations. Sevak’s cutting-edge approach comes in as a response to the challenges these zones face. Hameaux Légers, which translates from French as “Light Hamlets” integrates low-cost ecological housing as a holistic solution to the systemic rural housing crisis. This innovative solution supports the revitalization of rural communities while responding to the challenges of climate change and the deterioration of social ties. By promoting the arrival of newcomers in rural communities, Sevak adds value to the community through job creation and increased economic activity. Hameaux Legers also opens people’s eyes to new community living perspectives through his participative housing model.

Light hamlets are the first initiative in France to be eco-friendly, inexpensive, non-speculative and participative. Hameaux Légers are eco-villages built on communal land of 3 to 15 individual homes with shared community spaces. These small and energy-efficient homes are designed to adapt to residents' changing needs and to reduce their overall environmental impact. These homes are reversible, because they are built using zero concrete and bio-sourced materials that do not seal the soil and can be easily dismantled without causing any harm to the environment.

Unlike other eco-housing efforts that have not been well-integrated into existing communities, Sévak collaborates closely with local authorities to use this solution to increase their housing stock, integrate newcomers in a sustainable way, and ultimately revitalize their communities. Using established legal frameworks such as emphyteutic leases (leases that allow individuals to own their homes while the land remains in communal or public ownership), Hameaux Légers ensures long-term security for residents while preventing property speculation. Towns can stay in possession of their land while revitalizing their communities through the influx of new residents and increased economic activity.

In order to ensure that projects are tailored to specific community needs and that newcomers are integrated into the community in a sustainable way, this approach integrates key stakeholders including local authorities, neighbors, and future residents. Light hamlets also strengthen community ties by stimulating participatory housing models. Residents are involved in the planning and development process, which creates a sense of ownership and mutual support. They share amenities and communal spaces, which encourage interactions and build social cohesion. By creating economic activity and attracting new households to remote areas, Hameaux Légers also contributes to the revitalization of rural deserts by bringing in families and young professionals who add value to the community through job creation and economic activity. This creates a large and pressing demand for this solution. He is reshaping the concept of social housing and offering a real alternative to “social urban ghettos”.

Hameaux Légers provides a scalable, replicable model for rural housing, aligned with pressing environmental and social imperatives that French society faces. With it, Sevak aims to inspire a shift towards more sustainable and community-oriented living environments. To spread the idea, he builds demand through creative approaches to engaging local authorities and the general public. Understanding that his organization alone can build only enough light hamlets to provide a proof point, he nurtures supply by offering resources and training in the design and construction of light hamlets and influencing the real estate development industry to adopt the model as a solution to growing legal and ecological constraints.

France is currently undergoing a complex housing crisis that encompasses economic, territorial, environmental and societal factors. Lack of affordable housing and access to property, the abandonment of rural territories by traditional social housing stakeholders, and growing neighborhood conflicts due to the rise of individualism exacerbate tensions and contribute to precarious living conditions, especially in rural areas. The French government's zero net artificialization of land policy, aimed at reducing land consumption and promoting environmental sustainability, can also further complicate rural development. Hameaux Légers addresses these issues holistically and focuses on low-cost, ecological and participative housing.

In the past 20 years, property prices have risen four times faster than gross household incomes, making homeownership almost impossible for a significant portion of the population. A 2023 study led by the French National Statistics and Economic Surveys Institute, INSEE, showed that the wealthiest 10% of French property owners hold 44% of all real estate assets. Speculation, the rise in property prices and the concentration of property ownership among a small, wealthy minority has led to an increase in rental costs and an augmentation of economic disparities. As a result, lower income households disproportionately spend more of their income on accommodation, leading to financial instability and limited upward mobility. Real estate development also produces limited quality housing because it is standardized to maximize profits. Conventional housing development practices prioritize shorter-term gains over ecological and sustainable building methods. Land artificialization, high energy consumption and waste production, which have become the norm, all contribute to environmental degradation. Housing is rarely adapted to residents’ needs, and the lack of affordable, eco-friendly housing options limits the possibility of adopting a sustainable lifestyle for those with less income.

In 2021, the French government passed a law called the ZAN (zero net artificialization) law, or “Climate and Resilience” law that set a target of zero net artificialization of soils by 2050. Artificialization of land causes pollution, a loss of biodiversity and many other environmental problems. This law aims to encourage people to take environmental consequences into account when building and developing land, without neglecting the needs of territories in terms of housing, infrastructure and activities. This law puts limits on new construction in rural communities, which creates a challenge for growing municipalities that need housing. This results in the densification of existing urban spaces and prevents new construction on undeveloped plots because of the limited amount of land available for building. The contradiction between the ZAN objective and the demographic boom in rural areas adds a layer of difficulty to the housing crisis. As a result, there are tensions between rural living aspirations and the government’s environmental goals. Light hamlets solve a problem for rural municipalities because they are consistent with the governmental goal of zero net artificialization. They are built without concrete and so do not fall under the law's restrictions. Communities can build freely with this model.

Rural communities are increasingly economically depressed. These communities experience a lack of resources and tend to have an aging population that doesn’t contribute sufficiently to the local economy. In 1980, 6% of French villages declared having no shops. Today, that figure has increased to 35%. Paradoxically, there is a growing demographic shift towards rural areas, which is driven by the desire for a better quality of life. Since most employment opportunities are still urban based, moving to rural areas can be precarious. However, there is an increasing demand for jobs in these zones, with companies based outside of cities looking for skilled workers. To accommodate this influx of new residents, rural communes have several issues to tackle, the first one being the lack of affordable housing and buildable land. Few rental properties are available in these zones which are abandoned by real estate developers, and development operations are too unprofitable for private landlords.

Urban housing developed in rural areas over the last 40 years has resulted in isolated living environments. One of the old forms of rural social housing, known as lotissements dortoires, is proving to be less and less sustainable and adapted to modern housing needs. In fact, these traditional rural housing developments often lead to increases in neighborhood conflicts. Social conflicts and rising individualism are among the major factors that contribute to unstable housing conditions and resident dissatisfaction in France. The housing market is highly standardized and fails to meet the diverse and specific needs of residents. As cars have become a necessity in rural areas, social interactions are diminishing, which in turn leads to a disintegration of community networks. In a recent Fondation de France study, one-third of French people say that they suffer from social exclusion and isolation daily.

Some initiatives have already been implemented in rural territories to address these issues. Eco-housing solutions exist but tend to be costly and don’t encompass all the characteristics of a Hameau Leger. Other ideas have emerged to help solve the rural housing crisis but don’t cover the ecological aspect as Hameaux Légers does. While Sévak and his partner Xavier traveled through Europe to observe preexisting ecovillages promoting participatory housing, they noted that each one was missing something. Either the projects were too expensive, or couldn’t be scaled on a national level, or there was a lack of professionalism and solidity in the judicial and financial framework surrounding them. Sévak also noted an absence of local integration and poor communication between newcomers and locals which often lead to friction. Sévak is the first in his field to create partnerships with local communities and authorities to create a scalable model that can be applied throughout the territory.

Sevak’s strategy focuses on creating low-cost, eco-friendly housing through a new sustainable model. Sevak introduces a non-speculative, participatory approach that allows residents to live in eco-homes at a lower cost. To implement his solution, Sevak collaborates with municipalities, works to understanding the needs of local communities, co-designs the hamlets with all of the stakeholders involved and prioritizes diversity in selecting inhabitants. Hameaux Legers builds awareness and expertise through events, education, and industry engagement to lay the foundation for widespread adoption of these innovative housing solutions.

After witnessing the increasing housing crisis, Sevak decided to spend time in European ecovillages for 14 months to understand the inner workings of community living in rural areas through these housing models. Sévak then came up with the concept of a light hamlet. A light hamlet is an eco-hamlet composed of 3 to 15 detached individual houses with shared spaces (ex: cycle parking space, gardening area). The first part of Sevak’s strategy is to create low-cost, zero-concrete housing. Light hamlets are reversible and eco-friendly. These small and energy-efficient homes are designed to adapt to the residents' changing needs, and to reduce their overall environmental impact. Beyond addressing the housing crisis by offering a sustainable alternative to traditional housing, Hameaux Légers brings together a community committed to living differently. This project targets aspiring rural residents, municipalities and communities, with indirect beneficiaries being broader rural communities, policymakers and governmental institutions.

First, Hameaux Legers identifies suitable building plots which the district owns or may acquire in the future. Once a building plot is identified, they carry out a pre-operational study to check that the light hamlet project is feasible and define the conditions that the community wishes to set to ensure the project's sustainability and its successful local integration. This community-driven project brings together two main groups of stakeholders: elected officials and institutional landowners wishing to offer a more accessible, alternative to conventional subdivisions, and residents wishing to develop a participative housing project. Hameaux Légers has set up a legal arrangement with town councils based on the dissociation of land and building. Under a long-term lease, the town councils make some of their land available for the occupants to build light hamlets. The occupants, rather than the local council, own the house itself, which they purchase for a low price as a group while the land stays under the ownership of towns. Light hamlets are non-speculative and cannot be sublet as they are designated only for the selected inhabitants.

Once the project and its framework are defined, Hameaux Légers launches a call for applications. To help select future residents, Hameaux Légers organizes events where families and collectives can get to know each other and submit applications in person or online. After carefully reviewing the applications, Hameaux Légers pre-selects a maximum of three collective candidacies from which the municipality can choose. Once the municipality has decided on one or two groups, Hameaux Légers shares pre-selected individual candidacies for the remaining spots. Once the group is selected, Hameaux Légers runs training sessions over the course of two months to teach them about the details of the legal framework and its implications, as well as the way participatory living works. In the context of revitalizing local territories, city halls tend to choose future residents who occupy certain professions that will benefit the community, such as doctors and teachers. Once these steps are completed, Hameaux Légers provides operational support for the contracting authorities and the selected collective to set up the participative housing project. They may help with human resources, local integration and urban planning procedures, legal and financial aspects, architecture and construction.

The organization conducts extensive advocacy work, especially when taking part in working meetings with ministries and institutions. Hameaux Légers has worked with CEREMA, the Centre for Studies and Expertise on Risks, the Environment, Mobility and Development, the DGALN, Directorate-General for Planning, Housing and Nature and the ANCT, the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion. The aim is to make the case for reversible housing to institutions within the ZAN framework and to ensure that it is favorably considered when accounting for land artificialization.

Advocacy work and awareness raising are also done for the general public to introduce society to new ways of living and change people’s view on eco-housing. In June 2024, Hameaux Légers organized Les Palourdes, a festival for reversible and participatory alternative housing, which gathered 1000 participants, 80 speakers and 60 volunteers. Beyond raising awareness, the festival aims to support local dynamics by fostering communities and projects, and to inspire and demonstrate alternative living solutions. 60 mayors are invited to the festival each year and a specific emphasis is put on local authorities to encourage them to adopt this solution and work with them to improve housing in their municipalities. A major component of Sévak’s strategy is to build expertise and equip the industry with the necessary tools and know-how so that his solution can be replicated all throughout France, eventually without the direct implication of Hameaux Légers. Hameaux Légers lays the groundwork for more people to adopt his method, which also creates more awareness and, in turn, more demand.

Hameaux Légers also initiates the dynamics of local groups in target regions where there is a willingness to start a light hamlet project. A ‘Local Group Coordinator’ acts as the main point of contact between local groups and the organization and coordinates the production of resources and tools to support the work of local groups. There are currently fifteen official local groups spread all over the country. Benefiting from the support of Hameaux Légers, these local groups organize events such as the WEP (Weekend of Possibilities), during which participants work on their housing projects, meet locals with similar plans and attend workshops on alternative ways of living. Public information meetings with local authorities interested in creating light hamlets are also quite common. One of Hameaux Légers’ local groups has a MOOC, an interactive online training course on living in reversible housing. It is open to the public and has been completed by over 9,000 people. Hameaux Légers hosts ten webinars per year with external guests on topics such as integrating bioclimatic principles into housing projects and understanding the impact of the ZAN policy on housing construction. They run training for future inhabitants on how to build a light hamlet so that they can be directly involved in the design and construction of their homes. Every year, Hameaux Légers organizes fourteen in-person training courses, which last from 3 to 6 days.

Today, five hamlets have already been completed for 32 homes and 90 people. Each project is tailored to the needs of the municipality and its residents. Five projects are in the architectural design phase (44 homes), and nine are in the pre-construction phase. Overall, there are currently 25 projects underway (which will amount to 231 homes) in 6 of the 13 regions of mainland France. They are aiming to have 20 hamlets (200 homes) completed by 2026. Hameaux Legers itself aims to complete construction of 100 hamlets (1,000 households) by March 2032 because Sevak believes that will be a sufficient proof point to start tipping the industry. His long-term aim is for other associations, towns and individuals to build them on their own. Hameaux Legers already has three nonprofits building Hameaux Légers independently. The ultimate goal is for this solution to become a new standard of living in rural areas, and to do so, Sévak has put an emphasis on the importance of the 2026 municipal elections. He is working to get the Hameaux Légers project as a rural housing solution on the agendas of people running for municipal office so that it becomes a priority for local authorities, allowing for long-term change from the inside.

After the online training course was released, Hameaux Légers received between 400 and 600 family applications from households wanting to move into a light hamlet. An additional 150 municipalities expressed their interest in collaborating on the project and implementing Hameaux Légers locally but had to be put on a waitlist because of excessive demand. As part of their strategy to raise awareness, accompany and transmit knowledge, Hameaux Légers is currently designing a new training format with approved training organizations as partners. They want to launch construction training courses with more hours over a longer period of time, where participants receive an official diploma and qualifications. In the long term, they want to concentrate on developing a partnership-based approach to training. Training industry professionals, decision-makers, and public office staff is a priority. So far, there have been twenty-five participants for each in-person training course in ‘project management’ and twelve for each in-person training course on ‘construction and low tech’. Over the past two years, on average, 159 people were trained per year. As part of the spread, Hameaux Légers wants to develop hamlets through training programs: towns and people are equipped with the knowledge to build hamlets themselves and thus do not need to rely on Hameaux Légers to do so.

To reach a maximum number of people, Sévak has been working on creating a new legal framework in order to provide light hamlets as social housing for very low-income households who cannot get a loan. This will be done by creating a community land trust (Office Foncier Solidaire) as early as 2025. A community land trust is a nonprofit organization corporation that holds land on behalf of a community while serving as the long-term steward for affordable housing and shared spaces. This will allow Hameaux Légers to acquire its own land and to grant leases to low and average-income households. Institutions and councils more widely recognize this legal framework and will enable light hamlets to be considered as social housing, which rural districts are always looking to produce as every town in France needs to reach a threshold for social housing. Sévak plans on combining this judicial mechanism with the preexisting montage of emphyteutic leases. This mechanism will be implemented in continuation with the partnerships with town halls but with a new element. This is the first time that very low-income households will be able to become homeowners with the help of the land trust.

Testimonies from community members living in or around light hamlets have confirmed that this eco-housing solution has a positive impact. One inhabitant opened a grocery store in their town after moving to the light hamlet which greatly helped stimulate the local economy and attract new residents. In another community, a local farmer didn’t believe in the project at first and was afraid of newcomers taking over his town. He explained that his view on eco housing completely changed once he saw the reality of how Hameaux Légers was being implemented and integrated into the community. This is only one among dozens of people who have stated that their view on ecological housing has completely shifted since living in or close to a Hameau Léger. The project and training have also begun to inspire others to create their own eco-hamlets in the future.

The son of Armenian political immigrants, Sévak grew up in a very poor family in government housing in the suburbs of Lyon. His father was abusive towards him, his siblings and his mother and his parents divorced when he was 11. Never having completed school, his mother often needed his help with administrative processes. She was a social worker but also had two side jobs to support him and his siblings. Despite their difficult situation, his mother took care of foster kids in their home for years and was very active member of the Armenian immigrant community, helping out whenever she could. From an early age, Sévak was exposed to community living and mutual aid. As a teenager, Sévak wanted to become a businessman in order to become independent and give his family a better life. As a teenager, he developed small businesses such as a kebab shop which enabled him to employ some of his relatives.

After high school, he was accepted into HEC, a renowned French business school. He met Xavier, a fellow student, with whom he became very close. During their gap year, they started a technology services company together. Despite the business being very lucrative, they started asking themselves why they were waiting to become millionaires to do good in the world. Both he and Xavier had the same feeling and it stuck with them, so they decided to shut the company and embark on a new journey. Because housing was always a pain for his family growing up, Sevak wanted to find a way to help address the housing crisis. He and Xavier spent fourteen months traveling across France and other parts of Europe, spending a month in different villages talking to people, analyzing the housing situation, and writing reports on everything they learned in each place. From those learnings, Sevak came up with the idea of Hameaux Legers and he and Xavier launched the organization in 2017.