Get involved and find accommodation, a model of solidarity shared accommodation for students

Finding low-cost housing while committing to a solidarity project during your studies, this is what Afev (association of the student foundation for the city) has offered to nearly 900 French students for more than 10 years to fight against inequalities in working-class neighborhoods.

Inspired by the system of "project kots" of our Belgian neighbors, and exported to France in 2010, "kaps" for "solidarity projects kolocation" are constantly increasing. The number of roommates, called "kapseurs et kapseuses", rose from 28 in 2010 to nearly 900 at the start of the 2021 academic year.

Students are selected on file according to their degree of motivation and must meet a few criteria: be between 18 and 30 years old, be a student, in alternate training or civic service and devote nearly 5 hours per week to solidarity actions.

In Paris, where one in ten people go to higher education, places in "kaps" are expensive. "There are 140 places and we have received nearly 2.000 requests each year," says Olympe Langelot, regional delegate at Afev in charge of Parisian "kaps".

Nationally, "kapseurs" are located in more than 33 cities and 69 priority neighborhoods where they take part in more than 300 solidarity actions, according to the latest "kaps" 2019-2020 report.

The rents offered are attractive - with an average cost of 230 euros (excluding APL) - but this financial argument was not the only one weighing in the balance for Zoé Lemaire, a 23-year-old applied art student and " kapseuse "for the first time this year in Paris.

"It's been a long time since I wanted to commit to the long term, while continuing my studies," says the young woman, used to living in a community. With the "kaps", she found a way to "kill three birds with one stone" between affordable housing, living as a roommate and community activity.

"Diversity"

This model of shared accommodation is part of one of Afev's priorities: the fight against inequalities.

The association pursues a dual objective, to meet the housing needs of students while contributing to social diversity in priority neighborhoods.

The program allows students to get involved in various projects in the heart of neighborhoods with field workers sometimes lacking volunteers to "improve the living environment and create links": from academic support to the creation of shared gardens. through the fight against the isolation of seniors or the support of transgender people in their daily lives etc.

Diop Papa Souleymane, 24, is a seasoned "kapper". Since 2018, he has been helping schoolchildren and college students from his district in the XNUMXth arrondissement of Paris with their homework and organizing cultural activities.

“Having people from outside with a different view of the world allows them to open up culturally and access other information,” explains the master's student in sociology.

The "kapseurs" live and initiate concrete projects in neighborhoods often associated with drugs and insecurity. For them, "who do not come from these circles", emphasizes Joëlle Bordet, emeritus researcher and psychosociologist, it is a "real test of reality" which "allows a positive encounter with working-class neighborhoods".

Author of a national assessment of "kaps" between 2015 and 2017, Ms. Bordet welcomes the device but calls for more investment from the State. For her, "associations no longer have the means to match the work they are carrying out".