Jessica Brazeau, 34, and her husband, who live in the small French town of Areches in the northern Alps, have felt the effects firsthand. “In the spring, autumn and most of the summer, half of the houses are empty, shutters closed up,” she said. Rather than being able to rent a home for a full year, the couple has had to piece together housing a few months at a time. “We have had to find a few different places and move rather than being settled in one spot,” she said.