The project, revealed in March by 20 minutes, aims to distribute homeless people from Paris to the provinces to relieve congestion in the capital. In a logic of national solidarity, ten reception “airlocks” are to be created in the regions to accommodate asylum seekers, refugees or people living on the street in Île-de-France. This is already the case in seven regions and it will soon be in Brittany. In the next few days, fifty people, all volunteers, will thus leave Paris by bus to be “sheltered” in a disused hotel in Montgermont north of Rennes (Ille-et-Vilaine).
On site, they will be taken care of by an association for a period of three weeks, the time to examine their situation, before being dispatched to the four Breton departments. “A solution will be offered to them according to their administrative situation”, specifies Matthieu Blet, deputy secretary general of the prefecture of Ille-et-Vilaine. Depending on the profiles, these may be places in centers for asylum seekers or in emergency accommodation structures. “But the project aims to find sustainable housing solutions,” says the state representative.
The reception “airlock” located on polluted land
In any case, things are off to a bad start in Brittany. The hotel of Montgermont is indeed only a temporary place. At the start of the school year in September, a new reception “airlock” with modular accommodation must thus be installed on land belonging to the SNCF in Bruz, south of Rennes. The problem is that the mayor is opposed to it, judging the reception conditions “unworthy. “Elected environmentalist, Philippe Salmon criticizes in particular the choice of land, adjoining the railway, “which poses security problems but also noise pollution for these people. »
The land in question is above all “polluted by hydrocarbons and heavy metals, which risks causing health problems and potential poisoning of residents, in particular children, since families could be accommodated there”, denounces the mayor in a statement.
People supported by an association
Matthieu Blet, present Monday evening at the municipal council of Bruz to present the project, defends himself. “The place will be closed and secure and the association is already working on land belonging to the SNCF,” he assures. As for soil pollution, he is waiting to “know the recommendations of the Regional Health Agency” to decide.
The mayor of Bruz is also alarmed by the fate that awaits these people “after the passage through the airlock” but also by the reception conditions on site. “These people will benefit from a meal and will be taken care of by the association, answers the deputy secretary general of the prefecture. And it will not weigh on the social services of the community. “After the episodes of Callac and Saint-Brévin, this project to welcome migrants should in any case not fail to arouse reactions in the Breton commune.