The National Housing Confederation in Reunion is organizing a gathering on October 26 in Saint-Denis. The objective: to challenge the public authorities on the housing crisis plaguing the island.
Will the people of Reunion mobilize en masse to face the housing crisis next Saturday, October 26? In any case, this is the wish of the National Housing Confederation (CNL) of Reunion Island, at the initiative of a demonstration at the end of the month.
Erick Fontaine, administrator of the CNL in Reunion, puts forward an alarming observation to justify this.
“The reality is that today the people of Reunion no longer have housing, that the owners are in debt, that the employees have no housing and sleep in cars, that the seniors are abandoned, that the people disabled people do not have the expected solutions”
Erick Fontaine, administrator of the CNL in Reunion
ITV Erick Fontaine of the CNL
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©Reunion the 1st
This situation should motivate the Reunionese population to make themselves heard in front of decision-makers, explains Erick Fontaine. With a whole team, the CNL-Réunion had chosen the Chaudron fairground market this Sunday morning to make its message heard to as many Dionysians as possible.
“We need the people of Reunion Island, we need to get out of this situation, and we need to come on October 26 to tell the government, the decision-makers of Reunion Island, that they need to review their housing policy.“, he enjoins.
The meeting is on Saturday October 26, 2024 at 9 a.m. in the gardens of the prefecture in Saint-Denis.
Remember that, in its latest report on the state of housing published last April, the Abbé Pierre Foundation estimated that 140,000 Reunion Islanders were victims of poor housing in 2023, i.e. 4 out of 10 Réunion Islanders, and 200,000 people weakened compared to the housing (overcrowded housing, unpaid rent or charges, energy poverty, excessive financial effort, etc.).
The same report counted nearly 45,000 active requests for social housing in 2023, an increase of +32% in five years. More than 30,000 households lived in over-occupied housing in 2020: this is 9.1% of households. The number of unworthy buildings recorded amounted to nearly 18,000…
Added to this is a return to the rise in rental arrears (nearly 4,400 reports in 2023) in a region where rents are also increasing, and are among the highest in France with an average of 15 euros/m2 on average for a private rental property (+8% increase in one year).
Last year, the CNL-Réunion initiated a “Housing March” on September 23 in Saint-Denis. This brought together some 200 people, a relatively small mobilization considering the scale of the problem.
