Angélique, building caretaker, recreates links in her priority neighborhood in Brive

Since July 2022, the main social landlord in Corrèze, Brive Habitat, has decided to put building guards back in place in the priority districts of Brive-la-Gaillarde. Their role is no longer limited to building maintenance, since they help tenants on a daily basis. Continuing our series in the neighborhoods, we spent a day with Angélique Boudy.

Angélique Boudy has worked at Brive Habitat since January 2013. This energetic fifty-year-old is one of the two guards in the Rivet district. This priority district is located to the northwest of Brive-la-Gaillarde. On the heights of the city, it offers a breathtaking view of the lively city: “It's quiet here. In the morning, when we hire, we no longer hear birds, only howls or the noise of cars. It’s a unique neighborhood.”

A neighborhood she knows well since she lived there for ten years.

The caretaker manages 148 accommodations, spread across seven buildings and her missions are multiple. The morning is devoted to cleaning the common areas of the buildings. The caretaker takes the opportunity to identify all problems, incidents or damage, which she then transmits to the lessor.

We are more present for them, when they call us, we can intervene to help them, to be of service to them.

Angelique Boudy

Building caretaker at Brive Habitat

In the afternoon, she changes her hat. Because over the past two years, his job has evolved. In the caretakers' lodge, she is available to tenants, with or without an appointment. People come there to report problems, breakdowns, leaks, etc.

The office is equipped with a small toolbox. Because in certain cases, Angélique Boudy can intervene directly with tenants who request it, for example, to install water saving kits. This versatility particularly pleases the goalkeeper: “Before, I spent the day cleaning the buildings. Now, it's less physically tiring and it allows us to have another relationship with the tenants. We are more present for them, when they call us, we can intervene to help them, to be of service to them. Now we are recognized for that and it's nice.”

Very common in the 19th century in private real estate, guards, then called concierges, gradually disappeared. But in Brive-la-Gaillarde, the main social landlord, Brive Habitat, the city and the State, have decided, in 2022, to put guards back in buildings located in priority neighborhoods. “D“As part of the overall reconfiguration of the neighborhood* and beyond the rehabilitation of the buildings, it was a question of reintroducing men and women into the buildings who create links”explains Jacques Vignal, the general director of Brive Habitat.

The role of Brive Habitat guardians is varied. It ranges from the daily reception of tenants to the technical surveillance of certain parts of the buildings, including help with certain administrative procedures, the management of tensions or certain incivilities, etc.

To carry out these new tasks, the volunteer agents underwent several months of training.

Currently, there are eight: two in Rivet, four in Tujac-Gaubre and two in Chapélies. The lessor is seeking to recruit a ninth. Some guards are on call on weekends. On a daily basis, the presence of these agents, in permanent contact with tenants, improves daily life in these neighborhoods where neighborhood problems and incivility are recurrent.

By reinstalling guards, we put some humanity back into these neighborhoods. And this human factor, in public services or in establishments like ours, adds added value. This makes it possible to potentially defuse concerns or difficulties that are both technical in buildings and in the living environment.

Jacques Vignal

Managing Director of Brive Habitat

In December 2023, a survey carried out by the lessor revealed that four out of five tenants are satisfied with the presence of these guards and that tenants in priority neighborhoods (where these guards are present) are more satisfied than those in other neighborhoods.

The installation of guards was also one of the factors which allowed Brive Habitat, as well as its partners Noalis and Egletons Habitat, to obtain, in October 2023, the Quali'Hlm label which recognizes the quality of service to tenants.

* Between 2019 and 2023, the Rivet district was the subject of an ANRU urban renovation program.