Diana put on a red anorak. A garment picked from one of the boxes of clothing displayed in the hotel lobby. Like her black pants, her leopard top, her sneakers and all the clothes she’s been wearing for four days. Donations intended for those displaced by the collapse of buildings in Marseille. Resident of the third floor of 24 rue de Tivoli, her building is the one facing exactly 17, where the explosion started.
During her evacuation, she was unable to take anything with her except for some of her jewelery which she never takes off, such as her necklace holding a cedar pendant from Lebanon, her country of origin. Without a family in Marseille, she was rehoused like others in her situation in a hotel near the Saint-Charles station. Nadia wanders on the terrace, where carefree travelers and their wheeled suitcases parade at regular intervals.
“I’m fine in this neighborhood, I don’t want to go anywhere else!” »
“I miss being at home, with my things,” she breathes. Nadia speaks quickly, laughs, stops, then bursts into tears. She’s not doing very well. “I still see the fire. Dust. Anne-Marie waving to me through the window opposite. Anne-Marie died with her husband Jacques. These two septuagenarians were the first two bodies to be discovered in the rubble from which the eight victims have now all been extracted and identified.
Given the location of her building, highly exposed to the blast from the explosion, her return to the apartment she had been renting for fifteen years will take time, if it remains possible. “Two police officers came to tell me that I was staying at the hotel until April 28,” testifies Diana. “I understand, and when I get home I want to be sure I’m safe. But I’m good in this neighborhood, I don’t want to go anywhere else! “, she fears. It would indeed be the double penalty: that of experiencing a tragedy, of losing everything or almost, including his neighborhood and social life.
The question of the relocation of the inhabitants of the drama of the rue de Tivoli, of which those furthest from the place of the explosion should be able to return to their homes on Friday, is however significant and sensitive for people like Diana, whose buildings have suffered and will have to be either destroyed or undergo long works. An experience of rehousing that the city of Marseilles unfortunately has since the tragedy of rue d’Aubagne, after which the collective of November 5 was formed (from November 5, 2018, the day of the collapse of rue d’Aubagne, which also caused eight deaths).
Rehousing in a stressed real estate market
This collective had established, jointly with the town hall and the prefecture, a rehousing charter. “The reception system is very correct”, judge Kevin Vacher, member of this collective. The young man, however, expressed some reasons for concern for the future: “The charter provides that the rents are not due when it is a question of rehousing for a decree of danger, which is not the case in this situation, ”he points out. “We hope that the city and the prefecture will do the necessary”. Especially for residents who will find themselves forced to be away from their homes for several weeks. And for these people, in order to prevent hotel stays from dragging on, and so that they can find, if they wish, their neighborhood and real accommodation, Kévin Vacher offers a solution that may seem radical: “ The temporary requisition of Airbnb. »
The Camas district and its neighbors of the Plaine and the Réformés are in fact three districts renowned for hosting a good number of tourist accommodation, accentuating an already strong real estate pressure due to the current attractiveness of the city of Marseille, and more particularly of these neighborhoods. Under these conditions, how can the ten or so families who should permanently or permanently lose their homes (three buildings are completely destroyed and two, at least, show significant damage) be allowed to remain in the neighborhood and relocate there? ?
If the authorities cannot intervene on the private stock, which makes up the vast majority of housing, they can turn to Sogima, a mixed economy real estate company, which also offers housing in the free sector. The prefecture’s housing stock could also be used to allow residents who wish to stay in the neighborhood, or as close as possible. For those who find themselves in the private park, the subject of the amount of rents, which have soared in Marseille since the Covid-19, could also arise. So many questions that will face the victims and the municipality of Printemps Marseillais, the current majority, which was formed in reaction to the tragedy in the rue d’Aubagne.