Nice Premium: Are you the one who founded this association?
Nathalie de Pamphilis: Yes, in 2006 in Paris. I was a work manager in a Parisian social service where I was responsible for housing and rehousing families in difficulties. Among these families, one day, someone came to me with a file saying, “I am at the notary’s office, trying to finalize my home ownership, I can’t do it, help me.” I resumed the follow-up from A to Z and realized that this woman had the same profile as other families I was dealing with, where I couldn’t find housing solutions. These people needed rental housing in the public social sector, and there was a shortage of such housing in Paris and Île-de-France. So, I thought, why always offer them rentals, let’s offer them home ownership, which is an upward social move for them. No one had ever mentioned it to them since, in social services, the focus is only on rental possibilities. Yet, ownership exists, why not make it available to everyone? It’s also often because social workers themselves struggle to access home ownership because they don’t know their own rights. Therefore, it’s difficult to guide the public towards this goal and support them. Since they themselves haven’t done it, they don’t think they are entitled to it. My job was also to say, “You can benefit from this. So let your clients benefit from it as well.” Thus, changing the mindset of social workers to stop thinking in France that we can only rent.
N.P: What does the association “Les Toits de France” do?
N.d.P: The association “Les Toits de France” deals with all types of people: families, isolated individuals, elderly people, students, or even seasonal workers who wish to become homeowners. We truly allow people to hold their heads high, maintain their dignity, and find housing when they don’t have any, and reduce their repayment costs. Sometimes, the repayment of a bank loan is less than the rent amount. This is often the case for families with several children. We also take care of people who have accumulated consumer credits alongside their mortgage and have become overwhelmed by it all.
In reality, we have four activities. The first is home ownership for all. The second activity involves lowering the costs of Alzheimer care by working on certain aspects of the nursing home. We are currently developing an innovative pilot project for a nursing home. We aim to develop this home in the 06 area, hoping that France Alzheimer will support us in creating the project across France.
We are also working on student housing to help them find accommodation. And we are also working on housing for seasonal workers, people passing through, etc.
N.P: Do you work in partnership with agencies?
N.d.P: We work with landlords who come directly to the association to offer their apartments to families. We also work with real estate agencies.
N.P: Do you work with emergency housing?
N.d.P: We have an activity that resembles emergency housing: transitional housing. For one year, we take care of families by slowly preparing them for home ownership. Transitional housing is a point where a person is in between homes, meaning they no longer have housing. With this system, you receive social support to resolve your difficulties while we prepare you for future ownership. When you exit the transition, you are in your own place, you buy your apartment. This transition is a one-year contract renewable once. We can provide up to two years of support. These are two-room, furnished, brand new apartments where people relearn to live and slowly rebuild themselves after breakups, divorces, separations, unwanted region changes, or evictions in Nice where they have to leave quickly and don’t know where to go. Not evicted for non-payment of rent, but because the owner wants to sell and there are conflicts. We also have people paying very high rents in Nice who enter the transition to reduce their rent costs to save for home ownership.
N.P: What is required to be eligible for these transitional homes?
N.d.P: You must be a temporary worker, on a renewable fixed-term contract, or on a permanent contract, and you must eventually have the right to apply. The bank must be able to say you can take out a home ownership loan. Even if you have consumer credits, you can.
N.P: Do you have many requests?
N.d.P: We have many requests. Currently, we are tracking nearly a hundred families, which is a lot considering our small number of employees.
N.P: What subsidies do you live on?
N.d.P: It is the families, members of the association, who subsidize the association. They pay 1500 euros for a year of support (125 euros every month). Thanks to this money, we can keep the association running through operating costs, general expenses, and salaries.
We are seeking support from the General Council. We know that there is a subsidy for social accompaniment related to housing (ASLL) provided by the State to associations helping families find housing. We would like to receive this State subsidy, which would greatly help us as we are taking care of a hundred families in Nice without receiving help from anyone.
