34 priority groups are becoming increasingly diversified and the cohort of families made vulnerable by unemployment or an uncertain existence is growing. Landlords are therefore snowed under with priority applications and they reproduce, among this category, the selection criteria that apply to ordinary applicants: guarantees of work and income, family stability, and so on. 122. Applicants in a highly vulnerable situation (particularly those at risk of eviction) who consider themselves to have been unfairly treated can, however, apply to the mediation committee without a qualifying period to contest a refusal to allocate them housing. - As to the means of appeal in the event of excessively long waits for housing 123. The Government contends that the allocation process has a legal framework and is under judicial supervision. In particular, the administrative courts review the decisions of allocation committees. In a similar vein, an administrative court confirmed that the PDALPD was autonomous from the legislation (the Act of 31 May 1990), and set aside the former’s adoption for non-conformity with the provisions of the Act. The plan cannot exclude from the category of priority candidates for social housing persons not excluded by the Act. 124. In certain cases, the administrative court also ruled that it had jurisdiction to monitor the lawfulness of individual decisions on the allocation of social housing. It thus took the view that, although the homes in question were in public bodies’ private sphere, decisions on specific persons taken by allocation committees could be separated out from rental contracts, and could therefore be referred to the court dealing with abuses of authority1. For instance, an administrative court set aside a decision not to allocate a home and urged an office to re-examine the applicant’s situation, on the grounds that the allocation committee had not conducted a full examination of that situation2. In the same case, the appeal court granted compensation for the damage suffered as a result of an unlawful refusal to allocate3. 125. Moreover, there is an effective remedy if allocation takes an excessive amount of time. Mediation committees were set up under the Act of 29 July 1998. Any applicant for social housing who has waited for longer than a period laid down in an agreement between the département’s landlords and the prefect may apply to these committees. 126. In addition, the Act on a national housing commitment reformed the system in the following respects: - Applicants for housing are to be informed of the committee’s existence and application system. - Membership of the committee: it is to be chaired by a qualified personality, a fact which is likely to increase its independence. Representatives of tenants’ associations and integration associations are already on the committee. 1 Nantes administrative court, 14/03/1995, Melle Lefaucheux and M Grange. Versailles administrative court, 06/07/2001. 3 Versailles administrative court of appeal, 10/02/2001. 2