Rue d'Aubagne's contrasting landscapes

In Marseille, the rue d'Aubagne features trendy spots alongside areas marked by decay, where eight people died in 2018 when buildings collapsed. This incident has become a symbol of the issue of unsanitary housing in France's second-largest city.

Legal trial begins for 2018 collapse

The appeal trial for the 2018 building collapses will begin this week. Around fifteen defendants, including a former deputy mayor, an expert-architect, and owners of degraded apartments, will be involved. The families of the victims are participating in the trial.

Community center opened at disaster site

A "resource center" was inaugurated in October at the site of the 2018 disaster, aiming to foster community activities and solidarity. The center is located at numbers 63, 65, and 67 on the rue d'Aubagne. Liliana Lalonde, who lost her son Julien in the incident, emphasized the center's purpose of bringing "activities, dynamism, solidarity, and especially laughter" to the area.

Trendy and degraded areas in other neighborhoods

The coexistence of trendy storefronts and degraded housing is also observed in other neighborhoods of Marseille, such as the Panier and Belle-de-Mai. A 2015 report estimated that around 40,000 buildings in Marseille were unsuitable for habitation.

City's progress in removing dangerous buildings

Audrey Garino, the deputy mayor in charge of housing, stated that "a thousand buildings have been removed from the danger in six years," noting that the city's efforts are beginning to show results, but the progress is not yet widespread. She mentioned that people are now more attentive to the condition of their housing and are making more reports due to increased awareness.

Legal delays hinder housing improvements

After twenty years of Jean-Claude Gaudin's tenure, during which an elected official owned one of the collapsed buildings, the left-wing administration of Benoît Payan created a dedicated department to combat unsuitable housing, employing nearly 200 staff. However, this effort is hindered by long legal deadlines, according to Garino.

Expropriation procedures slow progress

Work on the rue d'Aubagne has only just begun because expropriation procedures are necessary, and the law protects the rights of property owners, some of whom are in real difficulty. The shortage of social housing exacerbates the situation, with Marseille having "barely" 22 percent of its housing as social housing, while the law requires 25 percent.

SPLA-IN manages rehabilitation efforts

The construction sites in nearly 180 "very degraded" buildings in the city center are managed by the SPLA-IN (local public development company of national interest), which buys and rehabilitates the buildings, with 70 percent of them to be converted into social housing. Franck Caro, the general director of the SPLA-IN, described the buildings as "crazy" and noted that they all have very different structural issues.

Recent incident raises safety concerns

In June, the floors of five stories of a building under renovation near the rue d'Aubagne collapsed, and several groups linked the death of a neighboring elderly resident to the dust he may have inhaled on site. This incident has raised concerns about the safety of ongoing construction efforts.

Criticism of rehabilitation efforts

Kevin Vacher, a member of the November 5-Noailles Angry collective, criticized the city for not learning from the 2018 incident, stating that "we are rehabilitating while endangering the lives of the neighborhood." He advocates for involving the neighborhoods in the decisions of public actors.

Complexity of construction challenges

Caro defended the complexity of the construction sites, referring to the work as a "work of lace" because the buildings can be interconnected, "so that if you touch the structure of one, you touch all." He also emphasized the importance of preserving Marseille's architecture known as the three windows, "magnificent, through and hyper robust," while adapting the housing to new energy standards.