“I learned to be very careful not to get into debt”
Throughout his life, David never lived in opulence. The fifty-year-old arrived in the Kermoysan district, in Quimper, 20 years ago. For several years he worked as a driver in public works. A few years ago, following a stroke, the Quimper resident lost his job. Since then, he has lived on a little more than €1,000 per month. A sum, below the poverty line, which is hardly enough to absorb the increase in the cost of living. “The prices of electricity and gas have increased a lot,” laments David, who has gotten into the habit of not heating his home. “At the same time, the rent is also increasing. Food is the same. Everything actually increases! So I learned to be very careful not to get into debt. »
I had no choice. I was offered this 96 m2 apartment a year ago, when the owner of the house I lived in, in Ploneour-Lanvern, decided to sell.
“I had no choice”
For Marie, 42, it's not easy every day either. She lives with her partner and five of her children, aged 3 to 15, on the tenth floor of a building on Place d'école. She has three other children who are independent, one of whom, soon to be a mother for the second time, also lives in the neighborhood. “I had no choice. I was offered this 96 m2 apartment a year ago, when the owner of the house I lived in, in Ploneour-Lanvern, decided to sell. I receive the RSA. » “Mom, you struggle sometimes,” says her 15-year-old daughter. Marie agrees and says she goes to Secours populaire every month to stock up on food. “It’s still quite quiet here, but I preferred my countryside. I'm already looking for a house far from the city. »
People who are in real precariousness generally have a lot of modesty.
“With €600 per month, what would I do? »
Thierry, 59, has been living in a studio on rue de Kergestin for two years. “I receive €600 per month of unemployment but I manage, I have my car. I know how to do lots of things, so I provide services, but it’s not always declared,” he says with a wink. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be able to do it. With €600 per month, what would I do? » Thanks to his manual skills, Thierry lives well. “I’m so comfortable here! », he smiled, before continuing on his way.
While some residents agree to talk about their daily lives, others refuse to talk. “People who are in real precariousness generally have a lot of modesty,” underlines Marie Rondier, president of the Quimper Cornouaille Family Association, which manages the solidarity cloakroom-flea market on rue Georges-Philippar, a stone's throw from the square. of Scotland. “In the locker room, we don't ask anything. Our prices are very low. We feel that it is difficult for those who come to us. We feel it. » For this volunteer, the neighborhood, “configured in a particular way, is not a place to live. People remain confined to their homes.”
Some take consumer credit to pay their bills. Others no longer heat themselves or barely eat.
A pocket of poverty within the neighborhood
Chrystelle Anvroin, lawyer for the CLCV (Consumer housing and living environment), located on rue de Kergestin, believes that this microdistrict embodies “the failure of the City’s policy”. “For 30 years, they have wanted to establish social diversity in Kermoysan, but this has created a pocket of poverty within the neighborhood. The poorest people find themselves living in these buildings. That’s not social diversity! », she denounces.
Every day, the lawyer receives more and more tenants having difficulty paying their rent. “Some people take out consumer credit to pay their bills. Others no longer heat themselves or barely eat. » So when she learns that the rents of these social housing units have increased by 3.50% in 2024, Chrystelle Anvroin fumes. “Many are here and have no hope of going anywhere else. »
* Figures published by the Observatory of Inequalities (independent organization) on December 3, 2024, in a fourth report on poverty in France.
The poverty threshold is €1,216 net per month for a person living alone.
City Policy: the difficult challenge of social diversity in Kermoysan
Quite a symbol. Nearly ten years ago, the Kermoysan public services house was built in place of one of the neighborhood's HLM towers. In Quimper, the policy of the National Urban Renewal Agency (Anru) has produced its effects with the desire to reduce urban density, and incidentally, social tension. “Nearly 700 housing units have been removed,” reports Claude Le Brun, the elected official in charge of the neighborhood. Other towers have fallen, residential areas have sprouted on the hillside. In recent years, urban change has brought the ambition of social diversity into this priority district, with the idea of no longer grouping all the difficulties in the same place. Today, on the 800 housing units of Opac (Public Planning and Construction Office), the main social landlord in the district, the account is not there. A stone's throw from Place d'école, where the city's highest poverty rate is concentrated (49%), the neighborhood still remains statistically marked by precariousness.
A local mission in the heart of the neighborhood
Two population profiles coexist there: large families who benefit from larger housing areas at low rents and single people, almost 57% of the neighborhood's population. “This gives a social park with two faces,” observes the elected official who also sits on the housing allocation commission. “It is difficult not to respond to the most precarious situations.” The public building, in the heart of the district, is one of the key players in the City's policy, just like the MPT (Maison pour tous). “It’s a proximity approach: bringing services as close as possible to the needs of the population,” adds Ludivine Le Bihan, head of the city’s policy department. The work of the actors focuses on access to employment, rights and health. “It’s fundamental work which involves rebuilding social ties upstream.” This is the mission entrusted to a social mediator, who travels the streets to meet residents. Once a week, she offers “the traveling café”, a friendly moment during which she presents a local actor. The Pimms (Multi-service mediation information point) has just started a similar field action with residents to defend digital access. The Wednesday market has been back in operation since September. “All this must help to change the image of the neighborhood,” hopes the elected official, keen to remind residents of the attachment to their place of life. “The prejudices are tenacious and they experience it badly even though many of them are very attached to it. Solidarity is also very present there.”
