Since the takeover of these accommodations and their renovation by the social landlord Adoma, around ten years ago, the tenants believe that the internal regulations are intrusive and threaten them. Dozens of residents, often among the oldest, have received eviction notices in recent months. They demonstrated this Friday afternoon under the landlord’s windows, in the South-East of Paris.
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Built in the 1950s by the government, particularly in Paris, in areas close to construction sites, the hostels were intended to temporarily house a workforce from the colonies in order to rebuild the country at the end of the war. In the 1960s, large French companies, represented on the Board of Directors, housed the workforce they needed there. Housing originally designed to encourage community living and where strong solidarity networks have developed.
Adoma is the heir to Sonacotra, herself the heir to Sonacotral (1956), specialized in housing uprooted Algerian immigrant workers, who came to rebuild and modernize post-war France. Becoming Sonacotra after independence in 1962, then Adoma in 2007, it has two main sources of financing: CDC Habitat, a subsidiary of the Caisse des Dépôts (56%) and the State (42%). After a very critical report on these homes which had aged poorly and were poorly maintained, a vast renovation program was launched in 1997. It was then decided to modernize the 687 homes “ whose configuration and state of degradation no longer made it possible to offer a decent housing solution », can we read on the government website.
Mahamadou Savane is one of the residents who came to demonstrate from the four corners of Paris and the suburbs in front of the Adoma headquarters, in the 13th arrondissement of Paris. He misses the days of the Sonacotra homes, although they were rudimentary. Certainly, society Adoma renovated them, but since then Mahamadou no longer feels at home. We are told that we consume too much water when we get together on the weekend; agents who have passes enter our home, “ it is not normal », indignant Mahamadou Savane at the microphone of Marie Casadebaig from RFI.
There were many of us this afternoon in front of the Adoma headquarters to support the residents of workers’ homes for the expulsion of a loved one.
Stop evictions
Yes to social support towards real social housing.
No to being taken to the street. pic.twitter.com/UPqqR2Zjxv— Sakho Ladji (@sakho_ladji) April 19, 2024
No longer possible to accommodate a loved one over time
Furthermore, the renovation of homes is often accompanied by reduction of accommodation places. For more than a year, every week, three to ten residents have been threatened with eviction.
The oldest are the most affected, often for having hosted a “supernumerary” because residents often accommodate relatives who, like them, have come from the country to work in France. They have the possibility of accommodating a third party for three months per year, on condition of declaring it to the office, indicates the regulations of the homes. Abdoulaye Sidy, soon to retire, is threatened with expulsion. “ I have no debt, nothing! But I can’t leave my brother outside, we invite the family, it’s the usual ! » Diabi Sidibé also houses his brother, to keep him from the streets… He is now afraid for his future. “ I’m 82 years old, what am I going to do? !!!! »
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“Since the transformation of homes into residences, Adoma has increased the number of summonses, but their campaign has become more offensive over the past year and a half” facing the social housing crisis, says Michael Hoare, from the Collective for the Future of Homes (Copaf), interviewed by AFP and author of the article From homes to social residences: state racism, in 2019. According to the association, which assists residents in their defense, three to ten cases go before the Paris court each week for “ illegal occupation » of accommodation. The owners of the rooms often accommodate relatives who, like them, have come from the country to work in France.
Adoma assures that he only applies the internal regulations. The lessor, which manages 105 homes in France, does not wish to communicate the number of procedures initiated, but assures that it is “ everything to avoid expulsion » of its residents, considered only in “ last resort “. Two eras seem to oppose each other: that of community homes where workers found mutual help far from home, and those of social housing in the midst of a crisis.