For a moment it seemed like King Eric of the football pitch, one-time Messiah of Manchester United, amateur philosopher and now French film and theatre star had taken his capacity for personal reinvention to the limit. Pictured wearing a tie on the front page of the French daily Libération alongside a letter to French mayors asking for 500 signatures – the symbolic number needed to run for president – it appeared that Eric Cantona was launching a bid to run for French head of state in the presidential elections this spring.

But in the cold light of morning, Cantona's gesture was revealed to be the latest in a string of highly effective publicity coups to raise awareness of the plight of poor people in France. Cantona's letter to local politicians was in fact a call for them to sign a petition on the French housing crisis for the leading charity, the Abbé Pierre Foundation.

"He isn't looking for signatures to be a candidate for the presidency, but to pass on the message of the Abbé Pierre foundation in support of better housing policy, and to make housing, which is a priority for French people, a priority for the presidential candidates," Libération's deputy editor, Paul Quinio, told the I-Tele news channel.

The paper clarified that the hugely popular "Canto" would not be striking fear into the ruling rightwing UMP party and opposition Socialists by "fighting a campaign from city to city, rally to rally", but was just trying to mobilise people over the issue of France's growing housing crisis.

"I'm a committed citizen," Cantona wrote in his letter to local mayors. "This engagement obliges me to speak up, more seriously than usual, but also with a keen sense of my responsibility, at a time when our country is faced with difficult choices."

Three months before French presidential elections in April and May, the spectre of a genuine presidential bid by "King Eric" might have caused ructions, even if his hero status is biggest in England, where he is revered as a miracle goal scorer with a famous rebel kung-fu kick. In 2010 the 45-year-old "Eric le Rouge" grabbed French headlines when he called for people to stage a mass withdrawal of money from banks in protest at the financial crisis. In the end, the idea fell flat.

But in France, novelty presidential bids can threaten to seriously damage to the main players. In 1980, when the standup comedian Coluche announced he was running for president, polls showed him taking 16% of the vote and he eventually dropped out after fierce political lobbying and fears he would bleed votes from François Mitterrand.

As Libération noted, Cantona's stance as citizen crusader went beyond party politics and could appeal to a French electorate, which is fiercely sceptical of the political class.

The 2012 French presidential election has already seen unpredictable twists, namely the fate of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was last year thought to be shoo-in to become the next French president before his arrest in May over the alleged attempted rape of a New York hotel maid. The criminal charges were dropped by the New York prosecutor and a civil case is pending. But Strauss-Kahn's political career in France is seen as over.

The latest poll by BVA showed the Socialist François Hollande in the lead in the first-round presidential vote on 28%, followed by Nicolas Sarkozy on 24%. The extreme right Marine Le Pen was polling high at 17%.

The question is how far Cantona's publicity move pushes the French housing crisis to the top of the agenda for the presidential candidates. "He's welcome, I'd like him to take part in the debate," said the Socialist MP Arnaud Montebourg.

Others, including the Green leader, Cécile Duflot, and Socialist Michel Sapin, close to Hollande, lamented that the only way to push a topic on to the agenda was to seem to run for president.

The ruling rightwing UMP party, responsible for current housing policy, argued that housing was already a priority for this election.

More than 10 million French people are affected by the housing crisis, with an acute lack of social housing in France. About 3.5 million live in poor or unfit housing or precarious situations.