HLM: launch of the Regard neuf 3 cultural festival at the bottom of buildings in Seine-Saint-Denis

Organized by Aorif, a professional association that brings together 104 social housing organizations in Ile-de-France, the biennial festival is in its fourth edition.

"There are more and more participants," said Anne-Katrin Le Doeuff, president of Aorif, at the launch event in Aubervilliers on Thursday evening.

According to the association, 500 residents and 30 associations were involved in the projects, alongside 20 social housing organizations.

From Noisy-le-Grand to Saint-Denis via Aulnay-sous-Bois, 30 working-class neighborhoods spread across 23 municipalities in the department will participate in the event.

Dance, music, street arts, theatre, exhibitions... The festival focuses on the "participatory dimension in cultural creation," notes Ms Le Doeuff, citing in particular residents of Noisy-le-Grand who will dance on Friday afternoon with professionals from Chaillot - Théâtre national de la danse.

The aim of the festival is to "change the way people look at Seine-Saint-Denis and the social housing sector," says Anne-Katrin Le Doeuff, who hopes to encourage people who don't live in the department to make the trip.

The festival takes place in a "context of tension in the social housing and cultural sectors," according to the president of Aorif.

"We surpassed the threshold of one million families waiting for social housing at the end of last year" in the Île-de-France region, while "allocations have never been so low," reported Ms. Le Doeuff.

A recent report from the regional chamber of the Court of Auditors notes that only one in ten requests for social housing is met in the Ile-de-France region, compared to one in four at the national level.

"The number of applicants in the Île-de-France region has doubled since 2010, and housing is no longer becoming available," reports the CRC Ile-de-France.