residents of Vitry-sur-Seine do not want to leave their tower to make way for the Grand Paris Express

The R10 HLM tower in Vitry-sur-Seine is to be destroyed as part of a neighborhood renovation project, but the rehousing proposals are far from unanimously supported by its residents.

José, Roger and Robet have lived in the R10 tower for over forty years. Their building faces the tramway but also the future Vitry Center station of the Grand Paris Express.

This social housing tower will be destroyed in 2028 to open up the Robespierre slab and build shops, green spaces and offices. All residents must be rehoused but around a hundred of them oppose this decision: “We had two offers even though they weren’t even apartments, they were storage rooms more expensive than what we currently pay and in a place without transport”José breathes. “I'm not ready to leave because here, I have everything I need. We are in the heart of the city, we have three buses, a tram, the future metro 15. We have everything and it will be difficult to give us the equivalent”adds Robert.

Roger and his wife, too, do not understand why they should leave an affordable apartment, in perfect condition and which costs them 700 euros per month, heating included: “Everything is good, we might not find better elsewhere.”

Without a written proposal for rehousing, the response is organized with a project, not demolition, but renovation and greening of the neighborhood: “On average, demolitions cost 30% more than rehabilitations. The only problem in France today is that the ANRU (National Agency for Urban Renovation) tends to finance demolitions. We encourage landlords to demolish except that it is an economic aberration but also an environmental one since we know that neighbors, like Germany, stopped demolishing already 10 years ago”, argues Simak Choara, urban planner for the APPUI association (Alternative for Urban Projects Here and Internationally).

The current mayor, Pierre Bell-Loch (PCF), is not at the origin of the project but he understands the importance of the disappearance of the tower: “If we want to revegetate, put in shops, restore a vibrant town center to Vitry, unfortunately, we have to go through that. All the funding we have received is because we “There are demolitions planned. Indeed, I can understand that it is difficult to live with on a human level.”.

Half of the tenants still don't know where they are going to live but, as the holidays approach, they hope that this will not be their last Christmas in the R10 tower.