It is 7:45 p.m., the metal doors of the Jean-Pierre Veyet primary school, in the 7th arrondissement of Lyon, unlock for two Albanian families, greeted on the sly under an icy wind and escorted through the empty corridors to the meeting room. masters.
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“
The announcement of the cold snap was the trigger. We said to
ourselves
that we couldn't let these kids sleep outside,
”recounts Sophie Pécourt, one of the mothers behind the wilderness accommodation operation carried out in this school, like 'a handful of others in Lyon.
Outside the thermometer displays zero degrees. Inside, under the neon lights of the large, generously heated room, four volunteers, teachers and parents of students, take care of themselves. Hot drinks and sweets complete the dinner eaten a little earlier at the Salvation Army in Villeurbanne, on the outskirts of Lyon. Toys are distributed to children, before a winter boot fitting session. Manjola, 29, enjoys the moment, smiling. With her husband and her two children aged eight and five, she has been sleeping at the Veyet school since November 22.
From evening to morning, weekends included, the volunteers take turns with the families. A makeshift dormitory is set up in the gymnasium using screens and gymnastic mats, which are disinfected and put away when you wake up. A room was opened to store their effects. “
The idea is to give them a little warmth and security. The first night they hardly slept, they had no benchmarks, then they adapted, the children are less tired in class, familiarity has set in
", observes Geraldine Andreo, a CM1 teacher. CM2.
A welcome respite for Manjola, five months pregnant.
His family slept in a tent in a nearby park and experienced "
the permanent stress
" of the street after having declined accommodation in a reception center for asylum seekers (Cada) located in the open countryside near Brioude, in Haute -Loire.
"
We did not think it was going to be so hard in France, but we will stay, for our children,
" assures her husband Plarent, his features drawn.
A month after their arrival in France, an asylum application was submitted in October to Ofpra (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons), but obtaining a hypothetical residence permit requires several months of procedure.
"Fundamental right", "French papers or not"
The Lyon collective "
Never without roof
", which advises parents and teachers to open schools to homeless school children and their families, identified at the beginning of the week in Lyon 34 homeless families, including 72 minor children. And almost double in the agglomeration. According to the town hall, 480 people are currently without accommodation in the city. "
We cannot accept that families do not have access to the fundamental right of accommodation, French papers or not
", justifies Allan Maria, member of "
JST
", who has been campaigning for these "
occupations
" since 2013.
Families seeking asylum must be accommodated by the French Office for Immigration and Integration (Ofii), but places are scarce in winter and the solutions offered are not always adapted to the situation of the homeless. .
For those excluded from the system, the House of Social Watch (MVS) which manages the 115 is supposed to take over.
But the limited offer leaves some without a hosting solution.
To date, six schools in Lyon host seven families at night, including 20 children.
Albanians but also Georgians, Syrians and Romanians.
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Owner of the walls, the town hall has let it be known that there will be no eviction, greets Sophie Pécourt. But the approach of Christmas holidays, conducive to the scattering of volunteers, worries him. To remedy the situation, the city of Lyon announced Thursday that it was going to mobilize 100 new accommodation places, as part of the “
Zero street children
” device carried out in partnership with the State. "
We are providing part of the city's heritage, including 15 apartments in Lyon intra muros, which will be mobilized for a period of two years
", Sandrine Runel, inclusion and solidarity deputy, told AFP.
Manjola and Plarent want to believe it.
In the meantime, they have to put on their parkas every morning and discreetly leave school before the arrival of the first students.