Le Figaro Marseille
“Yes, there was a fire again this morning. “It was I who called the firefighters as soon as I smelled the burning
,” assures an elderly lady living in one of the three beige-colored blocks that form the Consolat city.
This co-ownership located in the 15th arrondissement of Marseille, about fifteen minutes by car from the historic center of the city, is far from leaving you indifferent when you venture there for the first time.
“Here, we are always on alert and on the lookout. We couldn't even spend the end of year holidays peacefully. There have already been three fires in the same night
,” says Ahmar.
This tenant of an apartment located on the 5th floor of building B today lives in constant fear of seeing his living space being further damaged by deliberate damage caused by ill-intentioned individuals.
“Before, they only set fire to the trash cans.
Now they are attacking all the common areas
,” says another tenant, pointing to her entrance hall.
Inside, most of the mailboxes were blown up, the tiles on the walls were removed and the elevator, although brand new, was rendered unusable by the flames.
“In total, there have been around twenty fires since the end of November. Several complaints have been filed but the police no longer even come
,” says Ahmar, recalling the burglary suffered by his hearing-impaired daughter on a vacation day.
“Thieves broke down his door and emptied his apartment.
They took everything: furniture, clothes and even kitchen utensils!”
, he curses with annoyance.
The Consolat city left abandoned
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A den of watchers
The
“visit”
of the premises continues in the bowels of building A, the largest in the condominium and which houses dozens of families who sometimes no longer dare to leave due to its unsanitary conditions.
In the stairwell, there is no lighting, the partitions are covered in graffiti and the floor is littered with rubbish.
Walls separating the floors are dug, the gas meters are within everyone's reach and the fiber cables are almost waiting to be cut in two by anyone.
“The door to my apartment was kicked in by someone at 2 a.m.
,” explains Malika in front of her landing.
“There are a lot of squatters trying to get into housing.
We sleep very badly, it’s horrible
,” she continues.
The rest is much worse on the eighth floor, reserved for the
“dryers”
.
This is where the many tenants and owners once came to hang their laundry or smoke a cigarette on one of the balconies located on either side of the building.
From now on, the place is likened to a vast dump where rubbish and lookouts belonging to the vast drug trade which has gradually taken hold in the corners of the city are found.
“With volunteers, we had some of the waste moved to a drying room because we could no longer get through
,” explains Inès*, showing a photo of a group of people armed with disposable suits and masks to protect themselves. protect from dirt.
“I’m disturbed because it’s my home. Yet today, I no longer recognize my neighborhood
,” regrets Sébastien Delogu, also present this Thursday morning at Consolat, near Le
Figaro
.
The LFI deputy for Bouches-du-Rhône, who spent his entire childhood in the city, remembers a daily life which today seems very distant.
“I experienced everything there: my first cigarette, my first girlfriend, my first stupidities too.
I built myself there.
I cannot imagine seeing the co-ownership deteriorate to this point, and seeing this place sink into absolute suffering
,” he says.
We are afraid, but we have the right to a normal life.
My choice is to stay here and improve things in our own way
Dalilla, tenant at the Consolat city
According to all the residents interviewed by
Le Figaro
, the Cité Consolat is the very example of a peaceful neighborhood which has sunk into total poverty in just a few years.
An anonymous owner remembers a condominium
“where it was good to live”
and
“where many communities mixed together”
.
“At the time, everything was fine.
Sensible people took care of common areas and their own homes.
Gradually, certain tenants were ejected and replaced by people in complicated situations abused by slumlords
,” he explains to Le
Figaro
.
Adding to this imbalance were numerous acts of incivility which contributed to creating a real climate of insecurity.
“It’s gangrenous, there is no other word to describe the situation
,” summarizes the anonymous owner.
“I have lived here since 2018. Building A is a building that I have not seen anywhere else.
It looks like we’re not in France
,” warns Dalilla, a tenant of building C who says she’s staying to defend
“her neighborhood that she loves
. ”
“We are afraid, but we have the right to a normal life.
My choice is to stay here and improve things in our own way
,” she maintains.
The tenant nevertheless remembers the intimidation launched by the numerous drug traffickers who maintain deal points at the origin of numerous shootings, which left one dead and several injured in 2023.
“Once, I went down to tell a watchman not to talk to my children.
The next day, he came to see me to tell me to watch out for them
,” she remembers.
Funds released... for work still pending
“Drug trafficking inevitably leads to insecurity, residents are in danger. But there is a second aspect, that of the management of the co-ownership
,” assures Sébastien Delogu.
“The owners hardly touch it anymore, and some lose their footing because they are buried under the loads.
“It’s extremely serious,”
he protests.
“A very large majority of people living here do not pay their charges.
We also wonder where this money goes and what it was used for,”
asks the anonymous owner, surprised to see that the majority of the city's trash cans are out of use and that the surrounding vegetation is not maintained for years.
One of the buildings in the city was even recently subject to security orders issued by Marseille town hall.
This assures Le
Figaro
that it
“wishes to sustainably ensure the future of this highly indebted co-ownership”
by implementing a
“safeguard plan”
alongside the Aix-Marseille-Provence metropolis and the State.
Funding amounting to 800,000 euros would have even been released thanks to support from the National Housing Agency (ANAH) for carrying out
“urgent work”
.
This work is said to be
“ready to begin”
, but the aid has still not been paid to the co-owners' association.
The city of Marseille
“will remain attentive to ensuring that this is initiated as quickly as possible”
.
“We still do not know where these funds are, they explain that they will be released even though they have already been funded and the endangerment order for building B has been withdrawn
,” asserts Sébastien Delogu.
“It’s scandalous to see people afraid of dying while waiting
,” he concludes.
*The first name has been changed