“The apartment has just been blown away from us, people are buying on paper”. Like any potential buyer in Marseille, Colombe Pigearias, co-head of Marseille Solutions, is grappling with the vagaries of a booming post-containment real estate market. Except that it is a question here of buying the first Marseille apartment of the association
Roof to Me. Based in Nantes and present in eight cities in France, this structure helps homeless people to change their lives, starting with housing them.
“We suggested that they come here because it is an initiative that has proven itself elsewhere, and we consider that it has its place in Marseille,” she continues. It is ultimately a fairly simple idea, that of coming together to find housing for a poor person, rather than giving each on their own. “
A crowdfunding was launched in early June on the HelloAsso platform. It aims to reach around 120 donors, on the basis of 20 euros per month over five years, “or 5 euros per month with tax exemption”, specifies Colombe Pigearias. “We currently have 65 donors, but an average donation of 35 euros per person is higher than in other cities,” she adds. What, with the cash of the association, begin the steps for the purchase of a first apartment.
Already 35 apartments in France
The budget is 80,000 to 120,000 euros, excluding agency and notary fees, and the precise specifications: a T2, if possible on the ground floor if there is no elevator. “At the beginning, the person tends to spend a lot of time at home,” explains the Marseille Solutions co-manager. Ideally, we try not to ghettoize and find in a neighborhood with a strong social mix, in the city center and accessible by public transport. “” I had no reluctance from the agencies, “assures Colombe Pigearias, who recalls the” financial security of Toit à Moi, which has already bought 35 apartments in France. “
As for the neighborhood, Marseille Solutions, already at the initiative of Coco Velten (emergency accommodation center for the homeless) or the Marseille hostel for vulnerable women, recalls that the person is not left alone . It benefits from a whole socio-professional support, which is financed by corporate sponsorship. “There is a whole team of volunteers around the person, adds Colombe Pigearias, the objective is to support them towards reintegration, so that they will eventually be able to pay rent. And from a legal point of view, for the co-ownership or the trustee, it is treated with the association which is the owner, not the person. “
“Accept support”
“It’s like any new neighbor that you look out of the corner of your eye at the start”, also reassures Colombe Pigearias who, to her knowledge, only knows the case of three people (out of the 65 housed in apartments in the association) who finally left the scene. “It is a steering committee, formed with various local associations, including the Abbé-Pierre Foundation, which chooses the person to be supported,” she continues. Among the criteria, there is the urgency and beyond that the willingness of the person to accept support. “
The association hopes to complete a first purchase for the start of the school year, and a second by the end of 2021, before considering what to do next. “It is certainly little in quantity, but it is very qualitative, advance Colombe Pigearias. It’s rare to make a whole team available to support one person for two years. “And the victories are there, like that of this beneficiary from Toulouse who in turn became a donor.