More than 100,000 French people, without sufficient resources to find accommodation in the private park or waiting for social housing, found refuge at the campsite.
Credits: DR
In 2023, the Abbé Pierre Foundation released a report on the state of poor housing in France. For several years, in each of its highlights, the Occitanie agency of the Abbé Pierre Foundation has focused on the difficulties encountered by a growing number of households in accessing and remaining in their housing. Several subjects are discussed: the rehabilitation of precarious housing on family land, life and work on an unsanitary farm, supporting victims of slumlords to assert their rights as well as life in a slum. Tarn-et-Garonne, with Haute-Garonne, the department least affected by poor housing. The city policies put in place by these municipalities, in particular with the installation of a rental permit in Montauban and Castelsarrasin, have enabled this improvement. This good result must be highlighted but it must not overshadow the rest. More than 100,000 French people, without sufficient resources to find accommodation in the private park or waiting for social housing, have found refuge at the campsite. A solution that is supposed to be temporary but which sometimes drags on. If campsites are discreet regarding their year-round residents, it is because the tourism code does not allow them to take up residence in a campsite. Even if in reality, few checks are carried out on the ground. Because only mayors and prefects can be at the origin and only in the event of a disturbance of public order. Year-round residents, however, know that their accommodation is fragile: They have signed a commercial contract with the campsite, not a rental lease. Managers can therefore fire them overnight without notice. There is no winter break for them either. They are also subject to changes in the rules governing camping. And as the Mal-housing 2024 report from the Abbé-Pierre Foundation highlights, “access to water and electricity is often prohibitive”. Furthermore, the State does not recognize these habitats as housing and it is therefore impossible to receive APL (personalized housing assistance) or benefit from the FSL (Housing Solidarity Fund). Alongside people in difficulty, another category of residents lives year-round in campsites. These are owners of high-end mobile homes who have taken up residence in starred campsites, often equipped with a swimming pool or playground. Tarn-et-Garonne is not concerned, these are coastal campsites. For them, the mobile home represents an alternative to the inaccessible individual house. Because these people, who are at the top of the working classes, would have liked to buy an apartment or a house, but the rise in rates, the difficult access to credit and the surge in square meters in certain areas, have made this dream impossible. The move upmarket in mobile homes since the end of the 1990s has made them want to invest. So they don't hesitate to pay between 25,000 and 60,000 euros to afford one. Added to this is the rental of a plot in a quality campsite which will cost them around 350 and 400 euros per month.
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