“I feel like it’s the same temperature outside as it is in my home,” says Ender, 18 years old. Wednesday evening, it was barely 10°C in Lyon. And in front of the Crous headquarters, in the 7th arrondissement, around fifty students gathered to demand “concrete answers” to “the lack of heating” in their residence and a “partial reimbursement” for the rent they pay “for nothing”.
“When I put my hand on the radiator in my room, I don’t feel any heat,” Ender continues. I have to wear several layers of clothing to avoid freezing to death. » Frédéric, 21, has been sleeping with a down jacket every night for a month. Maïana, of the same age, decided to buy a duvet and a blanket. They all reported these problems. Without answer.
For Lia, 18, “investing” is out of the question. She believes that she “pays enough” with her rent of 410 euros per month which includes charges. She then walks around her apartment with “a scarf and an extra sweater”: “to stay warm, I cook and use the heat from the hotplates, or else I leave the bathroom doors open after my shower hoping that it warms up the living room a little. »
“No one would like to take our place”
Anna*, on Erasmus in Lyon, finds this situation “completely ridiculous”. She decided to come and demonstrate “in support”. “I’m going back to Germany in a few days and I will have spent my entire semester being cold. Since the temperature dropped a month ago, my roommate was at the residence reception every day to warn of the situation. Every day, he was told that technicians would come by. They came by last week to say that there was indeed a problem. We don’t know how long it will take for this to be resolved…”
She adds: “We should have thought about reacting sooner! Or to anticipate this type of problem to prevent hundreds of students, often precarious, from finding themselves in this situation. No one would like to take our place but they don’t mind leaving us like that. »
Ten different residences affected by a heating problem
Samir, spokesperson for a student collective created in response to this situation, claims to have collected “more than a hundred testimonies in one week”. “And it concerns ten different residences, between the 8th arrondissement, Saint-Priest and Villeurbanne,” he explains. Even Claudie Haigneré, inaugurated in October 2022, is part of it. And what’s more, it’s going to get colder and colder! But despite the numerous reports made, nothing has been done on the part of the Crous. It’s our daily life and they don’t care. »
A few minutes before the mobilization, the tenants of the new residence received an email specifying that a “technical expertise had reported a structural problem linked to the connection to the district heating network which causes an imbalance in the power system. » A meeting is planned for this Thursday to “study the implementation of a technical solution as quickly as possible in order to provide the set temperature of 19°C”, it is written in the letter.
A “cumulative number of incidents”
Requested by 20 minutes, the Crous de Lyon confirms that it “took time to identify” the connection problem. For other concerns, “there were problems with rinsing and defogging” or even “a simultaneous breakdown of the main boiler and the emergency boiler”, resolved at the start of the week.
“There has indeed been an accumulation of incidents recently, we are really sorry and we will do our best to find solutions as quickly as possible,” assures the Crous. In the meantime, he is calling for problems to be reported via an online form so that space heaters can be distributed individually. For Samir, this response is insufficient. He concludes: “As long as there are people dying of cold, we will not give up and we will continue to mobilize. »
*The first name has been changed at the request of the interviewee.