This month of April, the tenants of the social landlord Val Touraine Habitat received, like every year around this time, an invoice for the settlement of last year’s fees. AND invoice multiplied by seven for 2,800 housing units in the park. Some even exceed a thousand eurosfor households that are inherently low income. These are houses heated by mass boilers on natural gas, which could not avoid the sudden increase in energy prices.
On Friday, April 12, around a hundred tenants of the HLM managed by Val Touraine Habitat gathered to sign a petition and announce their intention not to pay these invoices before an explanation from the landlord. For its part, Val Touraine Habitat announced the implementation several measures to secure payment.
Wrath of tenants
“1,128 euros… I read that sentence several times, I thought to myself ‘they mixed up the comma, there is a problem’“, recalls Jessica. However, she is not wrong the regularization account exceeds 1,000 euros. Already in 2023, the social landlord resorted to increasing fees three times, in January, April and November. Faced with a piece of paper, the mother is devastated. “Divorced with three children to support, what should I do? She is asking. I’m a babysitter“he wails. Because he knows paying rent is a legal obligationhe will have to pay whatever the cost.
Like her on Friday evening, April 12, they were a a hundred tenants they met in the Grand Champs district of Saint-Avertin. They all signed a petition announcing their refusal to pay the bill in question. “We will not settle anything until someone explains to us where these amounts are coming from, says Agnès, the neighbor. Thousands of euros when we’re in social housing and my neighbor floods every three weeks because he has broken pipes, I have a cracked wall, it’s appalling”.
2024 clearance plan and commitments
For the social landlord, this situation is the result of a accumulation of factors : an increase in raw materials, which has an impact on park repairs, a decrease in APL, which affects their turnover, an increase in interest rates and an increase in energy costs. Natural gas did not escape this and last year Val Touraine Habitat had to renegotiate its contract.”de 20.85 euros per kilowatt hour, we went to 141 euros” explains Jean Luc Triollet, CEO of Val Touraine Habitat.
The organization offers several measurements. First, the creation of settlement plans, drawn up on a case-by-case basis, should allow those who will benefit from them to spread the payment of the invoice over several installments. 4,000 text messages with the proposal have already been sent. A thousand beneficiaries took the measure. Val Touraine Habitat then plans not to increase rents for housing that has been or must be renewed in 2024 and not to apply fee increases for 2024. The social landlord also plans to extend energy control to social housing. So many precautions to be explained Wednesday April 17, 18:30 during the meeting in the village hall of Saint-Avertin.