The main social landlord of Puy-de-Dôme, Ophis, is singled out. Several dysfunctions are highlighted, notably the vacancy of nearly 500 social housing units in the department. An aberration in a context of real estate crisis.
Barely emerging from the crisis that hit it between 2015 and 2021, the Public Housing and Social Real Estate Office of Puy-de-Dôme (Ophis) is facing a new controversy. According to an internal source in the lessor’s service, nearly 500 social housing units are vacant in the department.
“At present we have 497 vacant homes out of a total of 15,500 managed family homes, confirms Philippe Brunec-Debaines, general director of Ophis du Puy-de-Dôme. Which represents 3% of our fleet which is on vacation. To compare what is happening today in real estate in France, we have, according to INSEE figures, approximately 8% of the national stock which is vacant, all sectors combined, both the sector private and the public sector. For all social housing, that is to say social landlords in France, this represents 2% of vacant stock. For Auvergne, 10% of the overall stock is vacant”. To justify this 3%, the director explains: 1% would be due to changes in tenants, 1% to work necessary following a rental and 1% due to a lack of attractiveness. Ophis would have difficulty renting in certain areas such as Thiers or Combrailles.
Ophis is the main social landlord in Auvergne, even if 10,000 of its social housing units are located in Clermont-Ferrand. In total, nearly 30,000 tenants occupy the office’s accommodation. As a reminder, between 2015 and 2021, the lessor is experiencing an internal crisis revealed by a report from the Regional Chamber of Auditors. The management of the company is singled out: employees denounce “management of fear”, a management turnover (4 new directors in 6 years) and a wave of departures: 110 layoffs or “voluntary” departures most due to a toxic atmosphere at work. On the financial side, some employees denounce embezzlement. Added to this is “the level of real estate investment expenditure (construction and rehabilitation of housing) was halved, falling from €82 million to €44 million between 2015 and 2020. The effort to rehabilitate old housing was even divided by three, decreasing from €15 million to only €4.5 million over the same period,” according to the report.
In 2022, Philippe Brunec-Debaines becomes the new director and has the mission of raising the bar. “When I arrived, the vacancy rate was 4.5%, a figure that is constantly falling. We have launched reorganization projects which are heavy, for example, we have decided to process requests as close as possible to the territories in delocalized agencies. We have allocated 20 million euros per year to rehabilitation operations in different areas, such as Saint-Éloy-les-Mines.”.
In Puy-de-Dôme, in 2021, more than 12,000 requests for social housing were active, the majority of which were located in Clermont-Ferrand and its agglomeration, according to the report from the Regional Chamber of Auditors. And waiting times vary, from a few days to a few years for some.
