“I did this for passers-by,” he says, pointing to his miniature castle made from recycled foam.
It's still more pleasant to see than a tent”.
And in fact, the construction of David, a 53-year-old homeless man from Toulouse, does not fail to attract the attention of walkers
More than two meters high, passers-by see it as a "hedgehog house", a "hobbit hut" or "elves", but on Christmas Eve, it received a formal notice from the town hall of Tournefeuille, to evacuate the premises.
Appeared in the spring
David, who lives in this precarious habitat, was ordered to dismantle it, a decision he refuses to comply with.
"It makes you grumble, it doesn't bother anyone, and it's nice, frankly", plague Laurent Mahout, 38, a resident of this residential suburb of Toulouse, who is used to taking his 6-year-old daughter there. on Sundays, a day during which David, the 53-year-old homeless man, organizes creative workshops for children on a voluntary basis.
The cabin, which looks like a fairytale setting, appeared on the banks of the Touch River in the spring, adjoining a public path frequented by sports enthusiasts and walkers.
The construction, lined with trees and fake lampposts and a stuffed animal tree, is in reality a makeshift home for the homeless, a former camp leader or leisure centre.
" It is magic "
“One day an elderly lady walked past my tent and said 'it's not very clean'.
(…) So I built that,” explains David with a smile, who wished to keep his last name silent.
In the street for a year and a half, after his apartment was squatted, he hopes to stay in his home until the end of winter and rails against the method used by the town hall to dislodge him.
Made only of foam, recovered from a waste dumpster, then cut and repainted by him, the shelter was gradually transformed into a real miniature castle.
"The hut has evolved over the months, it's great, it's magic," reports Souhail Amirouch, 28, a resident of the neighborhood, who did not know "that someone lived in it".
Foam can catch fire
"It's made of foam, so if it catches fire the person can die and it could spread", fears a spokesperson for the town hall, specifying that in the event of a fire, "the responsibility of the mayor could be engaged" because the hut is on the public domain.
However, the municipality defends itself from pushing the man to the street.
“The formal notice is extended until we find a solution,” she says, specifying that she wants to “deal with the social aspect” before deciding on the fate of the makeshift shelter.
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Toulouse
Occitania
homeless
Precariousness