In Epinay-sur-Seine,
Between two moving trucks and despite the mud hardened by the morning freshness, a mother makes her way, this Tuesday morning, to get out of the Obelisk Tower with her stroller. Like her, life escapes from this 32-storey tower and 164 housing units built in the early 1970s. The movers, mandated by the prefecture, are busy taking the maximum personal belongings of the tenants who were able to find a rehousing solution. The rest ends up in the large dumpster parked just in front of it. “That’s all they can’t keep and it will end up in the trash,” testifies one of the employees of the town. The inhabitants have a big deal on the potato. “
“It’s the infernal tower!” “
And for good reason, two prefectural decrees state a “serious and imminent endangerment” of the building and a complete evacuation no later than December 8, ie this Wednesday. The information was passed on to residents just over a month ago. Their last resort having been rejected by the courts, they left the premises with sometimes succinct emergency accommodation solutions. “I am going to stay in a hotel in Asnières (Hauts-de-Seine), explains one of the tenants of the 7th. I don’t even remember the name because it was done in a hurry, ”explains this construction engineer in Malakoff (Hauts-de-Seine). Like him, Maryse, owner of an apartment since 1973, obtained an emergency accommodation solution at the Adagio hotel, Porte de Clichy. Several bags in her hand and rage in her stomach, she does not yet know where she will sleep in a month. “I was told I was going there until January 1. And then they said they would see… Do you realize? I have lived here for almost fifty years and I leave with a bundle ”.
At his side, Daouda, father of 4 children, has not yet received the precious message. “I’m still waiting for the SMS to offer us accommodation for my family and me,” he growls, brandishing his smartphone. “Here is the infernal tower!” There are still plenty of people in the apartments, I don’t see how they’re going to be able to get everyone out of here until tomorrow night. In any case, we stay. Where do you want us to go? “
Contacted by 20 minutes, Jacques Witkowski, the prefect of Seine-Saint-Denis, at work in the evacuation operation, seems determined to ensure that no residents remain on Wednesday at midnight. “I do not act on my own initiative but with a judicial report. We must evacuate with all possible humanity, even if it is brutal and violent. This tower can no longer be occupied, it is no longer a question of choice. “
For his part, Hervé Chevreau, the city’s centrist mayor, explains that he does not have control over this issue. “It is the prefecture which takes care of emergency accommodation, notably through the social samu. The city has no social housing available, we are only the link between the inhabitants and the prefecture ”, he assures us.
“We paid 13,000 euros for work”
Sonia, the owner who arrived in the tower thirty-one years ago, does not hide her anger. “We pay 800 euros per month of charge and we have recently paid 13,000 euros for upgrading to fire standards. Who will reimburse us? According to her, despite the debt of nearly 2 million euros of the condominium, the tower could still hold. “The building is very solid and the State makes us leave by offering to buy our apartment for only 1,200 euros per square meter when it is worth double it! “
The offer of CDC Habitat, a subsidiary of Caisse des Dépôts mandated by the prefecture, in fact offers prices well below market prices. The average price in the area is 2,577 euros, according to Best Agents . But CDC Habitat is defending itself against 20 minutes to want to make a financial transaction. “In order to offer them a fair price, we had estimates made by the Service des Domaines, a State body. The prices are in line with the sales made in this residence in recent years, says the organization. The difficulties encountered for many years by this co-ownership have resulted in a sharp drop in transaction values. CDC Habitat does not carry out a real estate capital gain transaction. “
Beyond the furniture to be thrown away, there are pets, whose fate is uncertain. “I have a cat that had three cubs a few days ago. What will become of them? Sonia worries before apologizing. This is not the most important, there are mostly children left in the building. Do that around this time… We won’t have Christmas this year, have they thought about it? Jacques Witkowski admits: this crisis is “one of the most difficult” that he has ever had to manage in his career as a senior civil servant.