Squatted housing: the City of Nice adopts a plan to make the accelerated eviction procedure effective

Le Figaro Nice

It was one of the landmark proposals of the majority at the Nice city council on Friday, and it was adopted unanimously despite some comments from the environmental opposition.

In fact, the City has enacted an action plan to prevent and fight against squats, in line with the Kasbarian law, known as “anti-squat”, adopted by the National Assembly last Friday.

A law proposed, among others, by the deputy of the third constituency of the Alpes-Maritimes, Philippe Pradal, close to Christian Estrosi.

This operational system, conducted in close collaboration with the prefect of the Alpes-Maritimes and the public prosecutor, aims to make effective the accelerated procedure for the eviction of squatters by the prefect in the event of illegal occupation of the home of others. and provide the best support to owners in their procedures.

Owners who are victims of squats will now have specific support with:

• a single telephone number made available to them 24 hours a day, seven days a week, allowing reports to be made;

• a one-stop shop within the Maison d'Accueil des Victimes (MAV) of the city of Nice to be received, take stock of their situation and help them take the first steps

• support for the constitution of their file (proof of ownership, invoices, receipts, tax notices, etc.) and for the drafting of the request for formal notice to the prefecture.

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The City of Nice will also work with the prefecture and the departmental directorate of public security (DDSP) in order to facilitate the taking of the complaint of the victim of the squat as soon as possible, to assess the possibilities of rehousing and accommodation, and to make effective the assistance of the police force in the event of absence of voluntary departure.

At the same time, a process will be launched to formalize this collaboration through a joint procedure between the city of Nice, the Alpes-Maritimes prefecture and the public prosecutor.

"Yes, we support this project, but we remain vigilant about the poor housing in France which continues"

, remarked the president of the elected environmentalists on the municipal council, Juliette Chesnel-Le Roux, recalling that the Kasbarian law

.

Creation of a squat unit in 2009

The City of Nice thereby intends to continue to

.

As early as 2009, Christian Estrosi wanted to create a squat cell, led by the municipal police.

This unit works in close collaboration with the services of the City: the hygiene and health service, the direction of the municipal buildings, the direction of the municipal heritage, the cleaning services, the territories, as well as with other institutional partners. such as the prefecture, the national police, justice, the departmental direction of Health and Social Affairs, the departmental council, the Metropolis or even Côte d'Azur Habitat.

It plays its part in the fight against these situations, in particular by preventive actions with individuals but also by supporting victim owners who must take steps to have their rights respected.

Read alsoSquats: can we reconcile the right to property and the right to housing?

Since the creation of this cell, 1046 sites reported or identified as "squats" have been listed, closed and secured in the city of Nice, some of which remain under surveillance.

With direct regard to municipal heritage, 752 sites were treated.

In addition, since the beginning of 2022, this division has carried out eighteen support actions for individuals (private real estate) and fifteen actions in the municipal domain (real estate and public domain).

This support system for owners operates in parallel and in addition to other actions undertaken by the municipality and the Metropolis on the issue of preventing evictions in order to respond to issues such as avoiding homelessness and precariousness of people, or even to promote early, concerted and adapted care for each situation to guarantee the maintenance of housing for tenants or the rehousing of people who cannot stay.