The expulsion of a family because of the trafficking activities of one of its members is increasingly demanded by social landlords.
The latest example: the landlord HLM Côte d'Azur Habitat asked the courts to deprive a mother and her son of housing, who had just been sentenced to 20 months in prison because of his drug trafficking.
The mother was also ordered to pay a fine of 500 euros.
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This decision is part of a context of strengthening sanctions against dealers in Nice.
Last March, the municipal council voted for a deliberation aiming to "
reinforce the safety and the tranquility of the residents of the social housing stock of Côte d'Azur Habitat
(CAH)".
Trafficking activities are particularly targeted, but also incivility more generally.
Judicial precedents
Thus, 72 sanction procedures have been initiated for nearly a year.
They concern tenants arrested for the drug deal, but also cases of insults against agents of Côte d'Azur Habitat, the throwing of Molotov cocktails against the police or damage to property, we specify. -on the side of the municipality of Nice.
In 2019, the damage alone cost the social landlord more than 754,000 euros.
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This is based, to sanction, on an agreement signed with the city, the prosecutor and the prefect.
This convention establishes that in the event of a criminal conviction of a tenant or a person who lives in social housing, the prosecutor is required to inform the lessor.
The latter can then initiate the procedure leading to the expulsion.
Côte d'Azur Habitat has also modified its internal regulations in order to give itself the possibility of summoning the tenant for a less severe call to order in the event of “
non-compliance with an obligation
” on the part of the tenant.
Donors defend a measure of justice
The city of Nice is particularly proactive in strengthening sanctions, but it is not the only one. The justice system is also increasingly quick to sanction the expulsion of entire families in cases of trafficking. In 2018, she thus confirmed a shift by pronouncing the expulsion of a mother and her children, several of them having been convicted of drug trafficking. The Amiens Court of Appeal thus considered that this activity constituted a "
disturbance of enjoyment
" for the neighborhood. In 2013, the Versailles Court of Appeal took a close decision, confirming the eviction of two families from their low-cost housing in Boulogne-Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine) because of child drug dealers.
On the whole, the expulsions of families of drug dealers remain, however, few in number. In the Val-d'Oise in 2019, the police, justice and social landlords thus preferred, as in Nice, to sign an agreement to facilitate expulsion procedures. All this while strengthening the internal regulations of residences and forcing the courts to communicate criminal convictions.
So many devices which, according to social landlords, aim to redress an injustice: the daily lives of tenants are often poisoned by drug trafficking carried out by a minority. “
Where are the most delinquents? In low-rent housing. Where are the most victims of these offenders? In low-
rent
housing,
”explained Frédéric Lauze, the head of the departmental public security directorate (DDSP) of Val d'Oise, when the convention was launched.
“
There are a lot of great people waiting for accommodation.
When you traffic, when you are a nurse (person who hides drugs for a fee, editor's note), you earn enough a living to stay in the private park
”, also underlined the lessor Brahim Terki, deputy director at AB Habitat , quoted by AFP.
The difficulty in finding social housing has only increased in recent years.
According to the dashboard of the National Agency for the Control of Social Housing (Ancols) published this year, 3.5 million applications for social housing were counted in 2019. Barely 13% received a favorable response.
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Despite everything, these eviction policies are viewed with a dim view by a number of organizations mobilized for the right to housing, such as the Abbé Pierre Foundation, or the Right to Housing association, which denounce unjust measures for families. .
