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Last Wednesday, I spent the entire afternoon following the bailiff, the police commissioner, the technical services of the City of Nice, ERDF agents, the director of regulation and public freedoms of the Prefecture, a strong force of police officers (blocking exits), CHU technical service agents, throughout the building at 1 Av. Georges Clémenceau. This building serves as a temporary shelter for people with no or low resources and/or asylum seekers, to whom both the City and the State deny decent housing. They all came, apparently mandated by the judiciary, to “ascertain” the identity of the people living there and whether any potential damage had occurred, as well as to secure what needed to be secured in the interest of the individuals.
The confusion surrounding each party’s role did not escape me. The City of Nice’s and ERDF’s services were in their role of securing the premises (bare wires, fire risks, etc., they also walled off some areas—very few—as the building as a whole is in good condition, except for the floors). On the other hand, the prefecture’s services did not seem to be responding to the mandate given to the bailiff to control identity and note the state of the premises. I noticed, for that matter, that it was often the police who conducted identity checks with the help of the Prefecture Director, while the bailiff simply copied down the information afterward.
It should be noted that occupying the premises belonging to the CHU of Nice at 1 avenue Georges Clémenceau offers an urgent and simple solution to an even more urgent need: obtaining housing for people with no or few resources and/or asylum seekers who are out in the cold.
Mr. Christian Estrosi, appointed President of the ‘Management Board’ of the CHU of Nice, condemns this operation (Nice-Matin of 8/11/2010).
I absolutely do not understand the intervention of a “minister” from France who fails to decently house asylum seekers in his city, as well as thousands of working families waiting for social housing, who sometimes find themselves on the street without the City’s services showing any interest in them. (I know them; I can have them testify!) I hope the CHU will do everything in its power to host as best as possible this population most in need of support and warmth as winter arrives and disregard the intentions of our City’s Mayor.
And, beyond the end date of the winter eviction suspension, I hope the CHU will do everything in its power to fully rehabilitate these logements and for the CHU staff who cannot benefit from the company’s 1% contribution as in the private sector and who face real difficulties in finding housing in this city. Let us recall that this same CHU “asked” tenants—employees or retirees of the CHU—to pack up since 2005, officially with the intention of renovating, but in reality with the firm intention of making it a profitable real estate operation to fill its Recovery Plan.
If the CHU were unable, then it is up to the City of Nice to step in to create the much-needed social housing here. However, what we revealed with the publication of the PLU (not yet voted on), is confirmed: no “social diversity servitude” (obligation for developers to build an imposed percentage of social housing) is planned in this area!
I therefore fear that this magnificent building will fall into the portfolio of a private developer who will turn it into luxury housing for wealthy “immigrants” (those, however, will not be targeted by today’s disgraceful protest initiated by the identitarians).
Emmanuelle Gaziello, Municipal Councilor of Nice, Communist Group
