“It’s an endless vicious circle”

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In the amphitheater, at first glance, nothing differentiates Hamza from the other students. Except perhaps for his drawn features and his frail buildor the time he spends within the walls of the university, from its opening until its closing.

At 28 years old, having just started his professional degree in chemistry at the University of Bordeaux, the young man is without a fixed address. Caught in an inextricable administrative circle linked to his residence permit, he has just spent a month and a half sleeping in Mérignac airport, for lack of anything better.

The beginning of the troubles

Originally from Morocco, Hamza arrived in France four years ago, already holding a degree in chemistry. After a time in Grenoble, he left to study industrial chemistry in Dunkirk and found a work-study program in Limoges. For months, he traveled back and forth between the two cities.

But in 2023, the renewal of his residence permit ends up blocking. “I had done everything in order but the prefecture took too long to renew it for the remaining duration of my studies, even though I am supposed to be entitled to it,” he explains. SO I no longer had permission to work waiting for. » Neither in work-study, nor elsewhere. And from his family’s side, he cannot receive any financial help.

Despite everything, Hamza decides to go to Bordeaux to take another professional degree in chemistry, specializing in his preferred field. He must be hosted by a friend who, two days before his departure, changes his mind.

When he arrives in the Gironde capital, the Moroccan spends a few nights in a low-cost hotel. But he quickly realizes that he cannot squander his money like this: he does not have still not allowed to work and its budget is dwindling.

“An endless vicious circle”

The problem is, he has nowhere to go. At Crous, foreign students do not have priority in terms of accommodation. And to find accommodation with agencies or owners, Hamza needs his residence permit. Except that to deliver him the precious sesame, the Gironde prefecture where his file was transferred asks him… a housing certificate. “It’s an endless vicious circle,” he breathes.

In the meantime, still without a roof over his head, the student thought of the airport “because it’s hot and it’s open at night.” He goes there one evening, finds armchairs to lie down on. And discovers, over the course of the evening, that many other students sleep like him in the airport.

“I had the choice between eating and housing, I chose to eat”he says calmly. He lacks sleep, doesn’t eat his fill but continues to go to class. After a month and a half, and as Hamza’s meager budget approaches nothing, the airport decides to close the hall where he was sleeping from 11:30 p.m.

Collected at the right time

Destitute, the student turns to his only hope: the Auberge nomade, an association fighting against isolation and student insecurity about which a social worker had spoken to him. The association’s network allows it to be hosted for free for two weeks, but the tenant ends up asking him for rent that he can’t afford without an income. The young Moroccan, forced to leave his home, is at his lowest.

I no longer ate, I lost ten kilos in a few weeks and I had around fifteen euros in my pocket, all told.

“He was beside himself”

The student had, however, heard of a clothing distribution and hygiene products organized by the Auberge nomade and decides to go there.

Katell Robine, president of the association, remembers Hamza perfectly that day. “We could see that he was thin and that his cognitive abilities were impacted, he was haggard, compared to his pomp,” she explains.

Katell immediately finds emergency solutions for Hamza: three nights of free accommodation with a member, six others in a youth hostel thanks to a call for donations. And then, thanks to the Make React association, she managed to get 36 nights in a hostel to be brought forward for the student.

A way to give Hamza a little respite until the beginning of December. And perhaps, to obtain an accommodation certificate which could allow him to advance your residence permit renewal with the prefecture. Once this problem has been resolved, he will have to look for an apartment… and an owner who will accept his application.

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