Act and “act quickly to deal with the emergency and protect property and people”. This is what elected Communists from the Rhône are asking Emmanuel Macron after the fire which killed ten people on December 16, in a building in Vaulx-en-Velin, near Lyon. In a letter, they ask for the establishment of a “new legal framework, where the right to housing can take precedence over the law of co-ownership”.
“Faced with inactive trustees, sometimes incompetent for the inhabitants, it is necessary the national creation of a public trustee, where the State, the metropolises, the local elected officials and the trustees will be able to act”, explain these fifteen elected Communist Party.
In this letter, titled “Never again”, elected officials 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, ”they urge.
100% financing of emergency and safety works
They 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 reclassification of degraded condominiums in the national interest”. They also suggest the “repurchase 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 to the renovation “.
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. 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.
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. “.