• In 2015, Christian Nicol published a report at the request of the government and warned of the worrying situation in Marseille, hit by poor housing.

  • A report unearthed with anger at the time of the fatal collapses of the rue d'Aubagne.

  • Seven years later, the civil servant, rather discreet, returns to his sadly premonitory observation, on the sidelines of the estates general of housing.

He takes the microphone from the podium to loud applause.

On this Monday afternoon, everyone in the room has heard of this senior official who, however, speaks little.

In Marseille, Christian Nicol is not just a name.

It is also, if not above all, the name given to an eponymous report, in 2015. A report which depicted a catastrophic situation in terms of poor housing in a second city in France that we (re) discovered, at the over the pages, eaten away by the slums.

The figures that punctuate this report commissioned by the Ministry of Housing at the time are instructive.

In some districts of downtown Marseille, such as the second, the share of potentially unworthy private main residences was around 35%.


"Everyone didn't care about the city center," says Christian Nicol.

The town hall at the time was not interested in the inhabitants of the city center.

They carried out operations to renovate facades in upscale neighborhoods.

The government of the time did not react either.

“On the side of the State, it is hardly more brilliant than that of the city, regrets Christian Nicol.

The State can replace failing communities, however.

And clearly, Marseille was failing… And the region or the department never moved.

»

“I was considered the man to be killed by Gaudin”

Seven years later, on this first day of the housing assembly organized by the city of Marseille, Christian Nicol speaks as a premonitory man.

On the sidelines of the conference he gave at the invitation of the town hall, the civil servant, rather discreet, is sorry, in front of the journalists who came to meet him.

Forgotten by the authorities, who took little action after its publication, the report of the member of the High Committee for Housing the Disadvantaged resurfaced when eight people lost their lives in the collapse of two buildings rue d'Aubagne.

We are then in the heart of the dilapidated district of Noailles, in the first arrondissement.

Panic spread to Marseille, along with accusations of inaction, tinged with anger.

Everywhere, a leitmotif: in the report, everything was there, implicitly.

“The services did not order work on their own because they were afraid of the responsibilities, remembers Christian Nicol.

In my report, I wrote precisely that in the event of a collapse, they would have a responsibility!

And I'm willing to bet that the city of Marseille will be condemned in this case.

The mayor, on these issues, has police power!

»

And to sigh: “I was a whistleblower who, like many whistleblowers, was not listened to because the municipal team did not want to question themselves.

They felt like they had done everything right.

I was considered the man to kill by Gaudin.

On the other hand, when there was the rue d'Aubagne, they clearly had doubts.

But they didn't do much.

»

Four years after the collapses, the crisis of poor housing is indeed still significant in Marseille, to the point that the city has decided to organize this major event in the hope of bringing out solutions.

“A new municipality arrived two years ago and began to reorganize services, in particular for the reporting of dangerous buildings, notes Christian Nicol.

But if it faces a clear opposition from the metropolis (led by the leader of the opposition LR, Martine Vassal)… When Macron came to Marseille for the Marseille plan in a big way, he said he wanted the end of the local chicayas.

What did he do to end it?

" This Tuesday,

Company

Marseille remains plagued by poor housing, four years after the tragedy in the rue d'Aubagne

Justice

Collapsed buildings in Marseille: Jean-Claude Gaudin heard as a witness in the investigation on rue d'Aubagne

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  • Bad housing

  • Collapsed buildings in Marseille

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