In Marseille, justice is on the offensive against substandard housing

If the bill against degraded housing, which arrives in the Senate this week, is adopted, judges could have even heavier criminal sanctions against those who exploit vulnerable people by renting them housing at risk of collapsing, infested rats, deprived of water...

In the city, "the magistrates now have real technical knowledge and a real desire to fight against this crime, especially since the tragedy of rue d'Aubagne", underlines the Marseille lawyer Aurélien Leroux, a figure in the fight against housing. unworthy.

There is a before and after November 5, 2018, when two dilapidated buildings on this street, in the working-class and impoverished district of Noailles, in the city center, suddenly collapsed, causing the death of eight occupants.

A shock for the city which has discovered the open secret: Marseille has 40.000 substandard housing units, or 10% of the housing stock.

“Rue d'Aubagne was like a catalyst for a more active, broader and more offensive criminal policy of the prosecution in this area,” assures AFP Matthieu Grand, one of the three investigating judges in charge of this symbolic folder.

Between 2011 and 2019, the number of prosecutions linked to substandard housing was tiny. But since 2019, more than 23 cases have been processed - for refusal to carry out work, subjecting vulnerable people to substandard accommodation conditions or refusal of rehousing - and already 11 are planned for 2024.

Now “around ten convictions” are handed down per year, welcomes Marseille deputy prosecutor Jean-Yves Lourgouilloux. They are also more onerous, the procedures relying more on the penal code, where defendants risk up to 10 years of imprisonment, than on the administrative code with less severe sanctions.

Prison closed

One of the most symbolic was that at the end of January of Gérard Gallas, a former police officer sentenced to five years in prison, four of which were closed, for having rented his slums to vulnerable people. In addition, two of its buildings were confiscated.

“Hitting the big guys helps make the little ones realize that they cannot continue to let their housing be degraded with complete impunity,” said Francis Vernède, of the Abbé Pierre Foundation.

One of the difficulties is that the victims, often people in an irregular situation or in poverty, "will not complain about their unworthy living conditions", explains Jean-Yves Lourgouilloux. It is then up to the public authorities to alert.

However, judges and prosecutors emphasize that the former right-wing municipality had made “practically no reports” based on article 40, which allows any public official to take legal action on facts constituting a crime or misdemeanor. “To open an investigation, we need reports,” insists Mr. Lourgouilloux.

Since the arrival in 2020 of the new left-wing municipality, “more than 150 reports to the courts have been made in three and a half years” targeting owners, prides Patrick Amico, deputy for Housing.

At the same time, the City, now a civil party in the cases concerning slumlords, signs approximately "30 security orders (formerly danger orders) per month targeting unsanitary housing of simple owners struggling financially to maintain them like those of sleep merchants.

The creation in 2019 of a local delinquency treatment group (GLTD) dedicated to substandard housing, bringing together town hall, metropolis, department and prefectural services, also allows for better feedback of information.

"To prioritize"

But, faced with the scale of the reports (excluding Article 40), made via lawyers, tenants or letters of denunciation, the police services are overwhelmed: only two judicial police officers are dedicated to investigations of substandard housing, a number " insufficient for a city like Marseille", remarks Mr. Lourgouilloux.

The prosecution must therefore “prioritize” its investigations by focusing on “the most serious cases”. But it has a reference magistrate dedicated to this theme which has become “priority” and to these “long-term files, very technical and often fought forcefully” by the owners. “A file takes around two years to arrive” before the court, notes the prosecutor.

The judges also “benefited from training on housing”, welcomes Isabelle Herbonnière, deputy vice-president of the judicial court. And the 6th correctional chamber, dealing with unworthy housing, obtained three reinforcements in 2022, allowing, with seven judges, to “double” the number of hearings.

“Apart from Paris, no other jurisdiction is as focused” on this theme, believes Simon Lanes, vice-president of the judicial court.