- A week ago, the town hall of Bobigny announced that the April rent for 4,000 families living in low-cost housing would be canceled. The public office claims that this measure is impossible to achieve.
- The town hall has nevertheless requested the holding of an extraordinary board of directors on the issue.
For the 4,000 or so families concerned, the missive they are about to receive will undoubtedly have the effect of a sledgehammer. While on April 16, the town hall (UDI) of Bobigny, in Seine-Saint-Denis, announced the outright abolition of rents for the month of April for tenants living in its HLM, the public housing office (OPH) wrote a letter to the attention of these families to inform them that such a measure was impossible to implement. But the municipality persists in its project. Back on this imbroglio.
An unprecedented measure
On April 16, as concerns grow over the economic consequences of the coronavirus for the most precarious families - especially in Seine-Saint-Denis, the poorest department in France - the town hall of Bobigny announces that it has decided to cancel "All of the rents for the month of April" for tenants in the HLM office. Or nearly 4,000 families. “A substantial part of the Balynian population is made up of recipients of social minima, unemployed people or precarious people drawing their income from" odd jobs ". The Covid 19 and the confinement therefore had a significant impact on the economic balance of many families, "said the press release.
The measure is unprecedented: if other social landlords have taken the lead to come to the aid of the most disadvantaged, most proceed on a case-by-case basis. The Seine-Saint-Denis Habitat public office, for example, has set up a "social unit" intended to help households in difficulty by rescheduling or deferring rental payments for the most disadvantaged.
Who will pay ?
In its press release, the town hall explains that it "worked with the public housing office in Bobigny" on this project and undertakes to take responsibility for "50%" of the shortfall, or 800,000 euros. The rest will therefore fall to the DPO whose "debt of almost 15 million euros left by the former municipal team is now absorbed," said the town hall. If the measure requires to be voted by the municipal council and the board of directors of the HLM office, these steps seem to be such formalities that the conditional is never used.
The social landlord is however no longer under the tutelage of the town hall since January 1, 2019. "This announcement, which is the responsibility of the only board of directors of the OPH and not of the city as she said, currently has no legal basis and would weaken the financial structure of the DPO, "said Jonathan Berrebi, president of the DPO in his letter dated April 29 to his tenants. The lessor, who calls himself "in full recovery", believes that "precarious financial balances" do not allow the exemption of rents. The organization nevertheless recalls that individual measures can be put in place.
Arm wrestling
The tension went up a notch this Thursday afternoon with the scathing response from the town hall which reaffirmed its intentions. “This exemption will be well presented to the OPH's board of directors, the only body capable of making such a decision. It is therefore absolutely not an announcement effect, ”said the press release. On Tuesday, ten directors of the board of directors, including the outgoing mayor of Bobigny, Stéphane de Paoli and the majority candidate, Christian Bartholomé (who came in second position in the first round of the municipal elections in March), demanded the holding of this extraordinary advice exclusively on this issue.
On the merits, the position advanced by the town hall has not changed: the municipality affirms that the subsidy of 800,000 euros for the benefit of the HLM office will be voted in June and enjoins the OPH to take on the same account sum taking into account "achievable savings". A veritable showdown which the tenants helplessly attend.
Paris
Coronavirus in Seine-Saint-Denis: The end of food insecurity will not take place on May 11, or even on June 2
Paris
Coronavirus in Seine-Saint-Denis: Implementation of "aid against food insecurity of 60 euros for 25,000 schoolchildren", announces Stéphane Troussel
- Confinement
- Coronavirus
- HLM
- Paris