Emergency placement: the cities of Strasbourg, Bordeaux, Grenoble, Rennes and Lyon sued the state

Union against the state. Environmentalist and socialist mayors of five major cities announced Thursday they will take the state to task to condemn its “failures” in temporary housing and demand a “overhaul” of a system that is “running out of steam.” “Observations have been going on for months, even years, with extremely clear warnings” about the emergency accommodation and “a system that today is unsuitable, insufficient, ineffective and completely undignified,” Strasbourg EELV Mayor Jeanne Barseghian said in a statement. online press conference with her environmentalist colleagues from Bordeaux, Grenoble and Lyon, and socialist colleagues from Rennes.

Citing the latest report from the Abbé Pierre Foundation, which counts 330,000 homeless people in France, she condemned a system that is “running out of steam”, called for a “overhaul” of it and deplored the “deafening silence of a state” that has “never responded” to a letter they sent to him in December together with Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris.

Two months earlier, in early October, these six cities also filed informal appeals with their respective prefectures, which remained a dead letter, they regretted, explaining that five of them decided to appeal this time to the administrative courts, for which they, depending on in order to file “disputed claims for compensation.” Paris is not joining this new approach.

“We take more than our fair share”

It is symbolic that “we are asking for reimbursement of expenses incurred” by each of these cities for emergency housing, for which the state is responsible, explained Zhanna Barseghyan. But also demand a “overhaul” of the “outdated” system, she insisted. The amounts claimed range from €130,000 for Bordeaux (appeal filed “no later than” February 24) to more than three million euros for Rennes (appeal filed February 9). Strasbourg, which is seeking almost 918,000 euros, went to the administrative court on February 12, Grenoble (about 51,000 euros) on February 6 and Lyon (300,000 euros) on February 9.

“We can no longer cope alone,” said Nathalie Appere, the mayor of Rennes. “We take more than our share,” added Pierre Hurmic from Bordeaux. “It is because we tried and saw that our requests remained unanswered that we came to appeal the failure,” added Gregory Doucet, mayor of Lyon. Eric Piol, the mayor of Grenoble, recalled the “promise” of the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron in 2017, according to which by the end of his first five-year term no one should sleep on the streets: “Seven years later, where do we stand on this promise? – asked the ecologist.

Along with 15 other mayors, including Anna Hidalgo, they sent a letter to the head of state on Thursday advising him to take legal action, ensuring that they continued to “warn him for months about the humanitarian drama that is playing out in our country.” We, the mayors of large cities, are reaching the end of our communities’ ability to compensate for the shortcomings of government responsibility,” they are alarmed.

“End of plans Extreme cold and returning to the streets exacerbates an unacceptable situation (…) Human lives are at stake, as is the future of thousands of children,” they continue, declaring that they are “determined to continue (their) struggle and action for dignity.”