In Marseille, the substandard housing disaster remains to be acute | EUROtoday

“It’s not the poor people who need to be fired. It’s not the towers that need to be shaved. It is poor housing that must be addressed. » The slogan resonated several times, Sunday November 3, in the rue d’Aubagne (1^er district), in Marseille. Four days before the opening of the trial to determine the responsibilities leading to the collapse of two buildings which, on November 5, 2018, left eight people dead, several hundred demonstrators came to ask “justice and truth” for the victims. But additionally to remind us to what extent the query of substandard housing stays central in France’s second metropolis, six years after the tragedy.

“It’s a steady circulation. Buildings are deteriorating, others are renovated… But, kind of, we’re nonetheless on the figures from the Nicol report”, notes Emmanuel Patris, co-president of A city center for all, a historic association fighting against poor housing in Marseille. In 2015, the study carried out by Inspector General Christian Nicol at the request of the Ministry of Housing estimated at 100,000 the number of Marseillais living in poor conditions. “presenting a risk to health or safety”. “That is more than 40,000 potentially unworthy housing units”the report said. Housing located in the city center, but also in large degraded condominiums, further on the outskirts.

At the time, the mayor (Les Républicains) Jean-Claude Gaudin brushed aside the alarm. A blindness which remains one of the aggravating circumstances of the disaster of the rue d’Aubagne, then of the shock wave which followed: the placing in danger of more than a thousand buildings and the brutal and traumatic dislodging of 3,000 inhabitants.

“Great municipal cause”

Today, if the traces of the crisis – walled facades, blocked streets, padlocks locking entrances, etc. – are less visible, there remain, according to municipal figures, nearly 1,300 buildings subject to total or partial security. . There are 1,200 of them who are still housed in hotels or in temporary locations. Each month, municipal services process nearly 200 reports for dilapidated, unsanitary or dangerous housing and open around forty procedures. In 2023, 518 danger orders were issued by the administration.

In a column published Monday, November 4 on his social networks, the mayor (various left) Benoît Payan recalls having fought against poor housing “a great municipal cause”. If the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, chaired by Martine Vassal (various right) is a leader in housing, the municipality has nevertheless created a housing department, for which nearly 150 specialized agents now work in building security. In 2018, there were less than ten.

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