Financing of emergency works by the State, release of funds for renovation… After the fire which killed ten people in a building in Vaulx-en-Velin, near Lyon, on December 16, elected Communists from the Rhône urged Emmanuel Macron on Monday to adopt “a new legal framework where the right to housing can take precedence over the right to co-ownership”.
On the night of December 15 to 16, the fire started around 3 a.m. on the ground floor of a seven-storey building in a district undergoing urban renewal. Several witnesses denounced in the media the dilapidated condition of the premises, the absence of fire-fighting devices and the presence of a deal point.
In their letter, titled “never again”, the elected Communists point out that many owners have low incomes that do not allow them to undertake renovation work. “Private housing is sometimes more degraded than social housing. We must change the law, simplify the process, ”urges the letter signed by 15 elected PCs.
Elected officials propose several solutions to the government, including “100% financing of emergency and safety works for all low-income owners with an obligation to work, and a requalification of degraded condominiums in the national interest”.
They also suggest the “purchase of housing by the State for defaulting co-owners by offering them dignified solutions, the possibility of seizure by the State of all housing rented by slum landlords and the immediate release of funds for the renovation “.
The residence needed to be renovated
The residence where the disaster took place, comprising 107 dwellings in three buildings, was to be renovated as part of a safeguard plan launched in 2018 for a dozen dilapidated condominiums in the district, according to the town hall. Studies carried out in this residence had in particular “highlighted many technical and financial difficulties reflecting disorders on the equipment (elevators), the water and electricity networks which could raise the question of the safety of the inhabitants, particularly in the event of fire. “.
“Faced with inactive trustees, sometimes incompetent for the inhabitants, we need the national creation of a public trustee, where the State, the cities, the local elected officials and the trustees can act, act quickly to deal with the emergency and protect property and people, ”we can still read in this open letter.
For their part, the 38 families affected for the moment relocated to the hotel, with relatives or in the boarding school of a high school which they must leave on Tuesday have received temporary or permanent accommodation offers, indicated the prefecture at the end of last week.