The winter break is coming to an end soon: from Tuesday, June 1 in the morning, rental evictions will be able to resume in France. Conquest of Abbé Pierre in the winter of 1954, this period, which normally lasts five months during the cold season, provides respite each year to several thousand modest households by suspending all eviction procedures. This truce, which should have ended on March 31, was extended for two months by Housing Minister Emmanuelle Wargon due to the Covid-19 health crisis. Despite repeated requests from charities, its extension was not extended until July 20 as last year.
"There can be no white year in terms of evictions, or moratorium," confirms, contacted this Friday, May 28, the minister, who also wants to spare the landlord landlords, victims of unpaid bills.
This makes some forty associations and unions opposed to the resumption of evictions in the midst of a pandemic fear the worst.
"While many evictions had been avoided in 2020 to cope with the context of the pandemic, their resumption this year threatens 30,000 households, or nearly 66,000 people, in a dramatic health, economic and social context, which first of all weakens the most precarious, ”the Abbé Pierre Foundation warns in a press release.
Limited and supervised evictions
To avoid any bleeding, the minister sent strict instructions to the prefects, called for "a controlled resumption" of evictions, which she conditions on a solution of rehousing or accommodation in centers or hotels "according to the capacities" of each territory. "We are in the process of completely overhauling the management of the end of the winter break with a resumption of evictions in a phased, prioritized manner, by offering rehousing, or at least accommodation, to those evicted", summarizes Emmanuelle Wargon.
In a circular dated April 26, which the Parisian - Today in France was able to consult, she asks the prefects to "reduce the number of competition files for the police accumulated in 2020 to be executed at the end of the truce ”, to“ reschedule ”their execution over two years until 2022, and to limit the influx of new cases this year through a more active prevention policy.
And the circular listing the cases to be managed as a priority.
Thus, evictions must primarily concern the occupants of landlords who are in greatest difficulty, “small individual landlords who depend on their rent to ensure their income”, tenants “seriously damaging their material and / or human environment” as well. that "people who have not resumed the payment of their rent although they objectively have the budgetary capacities to do so".
Secondly, it is up to the prefects to carry out the oldest evictions and whose rental debts are "the highest".
"The priority issue remains that of avoiding the precariousness of tenants like that of their lessors", we can read.
37 million euros allocated to owners who are victims of unpaid bills
If the Abbé Pierre Foundation recognizes some progress, it asks for "the dignified and lasting rehousing of all households" and refuses that it depends "on the capacities of each territory as mentioned in the instruction (...). Evicting without a solution or offering temporary solutions is neither acceptable nor satisfactory for the households concerned, moreover in a context of saturation of the emergency accommodation sector, ”she underlines.
In return, Emmanuelle Wargon intends to give pledges to donors who are victims of unpaid bills. "We are going to better compensate owners whose tenants are not evicted immediately, which was insufficiently done before," she assures us. “This aid fund, dedicated to homeowners who are victims of unpaid debts, will be endowed with an additional 10 million euros in July and will reach 37 million euros. This amount can be increased again if the need arises during the year, ”she warns. At the same time, the government has decided to contribute 30 million euros to another fund, the Housing Solidarity Fund intended for tenants to avoid unpaid rent.
At the same time, the Minister confirms to extend for ten months the 43,000 temporary accommodation places made available to the homeless since March 2020 to deal with the pandemic. “No one will be put on the streets, we will keep this historic level of 200,000 reception places thanks to the maintenance of these 43,000 places until next March,” she repeats. This represents a cost of 700 million euros and brings the annual budget devoted to emergency accommodation to 2.9 billion euros, according to the Ministry of Housing.