Maurice will celebrate his 48th birthday on Sunday. "But I probably won't do anything. Can you imagine? I'm not going to invite my children into the garage anyway. Because the quadra, a small clod of hair at the top of the skull and beard of a neglected woman, has been living for almost a year in a box. A makeshift roof offered by his former partner, Valérie, last February.
The two of them: 20 years of living together, three children and a separation, in December 2018. One story with another ended just before telling it, Maurice found himself outside. With only refuge, therefore, a garage provided by "the mother of kids", Mordacs neighborhoods, in Champigny.
Valérie justified herself in the fall: “We are all humans. And he is still the father of my children. So I asked her to live in my box while her housing request progressed. What else could I tell her? Get up and sleep on a bench? "
An apartment in January?
Recipient of a "summons to leave the premises", served by a bailiff last October, Maurice had received the support of numerous neighbors and friends.
IDF Habitat, the social landlord of the apartment and the garage of his ex then undertook "to work to resolve the situation as soon as possible". "It can go very quickly, the allocation commissions [housing] take place every two weeks," said Delphine Valentin, the director general of the organization. The manager was worried about the "security question" posed by the situation: "Squatting a box is very dangerous. "
Almost three months have passed. And Maurice is still in the garage. On October 31, however, a letter from IDF Habitat informed him that a one-bedroom apartment was allocated to him, in Champigny.
"An elected official from the town hall told me that I will be able to collect the keys from January 1," says Maurice. So Thursday, he went to the IDF Habitat headquarters, accompanied by a friend. A vain journey. "They told me that the keys were not available and that the apartment needed work," swears the quadra.
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"No one in our department could tell him that the keys would be available," sweeps Delphine Valentin. We are currently awaiting judicial authorization to empty the accommodation. It should happen this month. Afterwards, we will have to see if there is any need to do any work. "
"I got to know the local cats"
Above all, IDF Habitat explains that other housing was offered in Mauritius, earlier in 2019, as part of the "1% employer". "Too far from my employer, in Bondy [Seine-Saint-Denis]", replies the interested party, employee in a cleaning company, provider of several social landlords (but not of IDF Habitat!).
2019 has passed. Maurice is still sleeping in the box. On his sofa bed, placed against a gas stove and a heap of trinkets from which a synthetic tree emerges, he fills time as best he can. Filling the belly with aperitif cakes. "Or a panini bought next door, if I want hot," says the father. A neighbor offered me a stove, but I'm too scared with the petrol fumes from my scooter, that I come home every evening. "
But the worst for him remains not being able to welcome his children. A "shame", which makes her cry tears in waves but allows her to hold "hold on".
Pending a new address, Maurice can count on the help of several neighbors, "who bring canned goods and fill the thermos with coffee". And from the attention of new companions: “I got to know neighborhood cats. I give them food every day. They don't leave me alone. "
