Sarcelles (French pronunciation: ​[saʁ.sɛl]) is a commune in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located 16.3 km (10.1 mi) from the center of Paris. Sarcelles is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Sarcelles.In the south of the commune, during the 1950s and 1960s, HLMs were built in order to accommodate pieds-noirs (that is French settlers from Algeria) and Jews, who left Algeria due to the Algerian War of Independence.