Half failure or half success? Friday, March 31, the Saint-Bazile temporary residence will close its doors. And the association of asylum seekers who managed this former squat, which has become an approved and legal emergency reception center for nine months, will return the keys to the owner, the regional public land establishment, as planned. All the inhabitants will have left this five-storey building located in the very center of Marseille (1er). Returned to the circuit of emergency accommodation, already totally saturated.
“We keep the commitment to empty Saint-Bazile because we are playing on our credibility. Our aspiration was to continue this unprecedented experience elsewhere… But the State did not offer us anything”notes Alieu Jalloh, the president of the association of users of the reception platform for asylum seekers (AUP), initiator and pivot of the project.
In July 2022, with the support of the Bouches-du-Rhône prefecture and the city of Marseille, the AUP – which has nearly 500 members, all asylum seekers – had convinced the owner to conclude a lease of temporary occupation for this building squatted for a year. The Habitat Alternative Social (HAS) association took on criminal responsibility for the experiment by signing the agreement. A third Marseilles association, Justice and Union for Social Transformation (JUST) then organized the security of the premises with the inhabitants. Internal rules have been established and, in September 2022, the official inauguration took place in the presence of the Prefect Delegate for Equal Opportunities of Bouches-du-Rhône, Laurent Carrié. The latter then greeted the aspect “pragmatic” of this alternative “integrating perfectly into the departmental strategy for the reduction of slums, squats and camps “. Audrey Garino, municipal assistant for social affairs, mentioned, “the possibility of modeling the project”.
A “frugal” operation
Six months later, partners and supervisors are still unanimously praising the experience and its ” well dressed “. But, for lack of a new site available, the associations had to urgently organize the rehousing of the inhabitants.
Camouflage shirt on the back, soft voice, Babalanfia Souaré does not hide his fears. With his partner and their eight-month-old daughter, this 27-year-old man from Guinea has been living in Saint-Bazile for more than a year. The suite for his family will be accommodation in a hotel in the very north of Marseille. “For a month maybe, after that we don’t know”he slips. “As regards accommodation, we are pushing back all the inhabitants at best by one, or even two boxes. This is likely to comfort those who think that legalism does not pay and that it is better to squat”regrets Pierre Albouy, member of the AUP.
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