Tenants of a social housing project in downtown Toulouse are angry with Toulouse Métropole Habitat. They accuse it of having acted in a “brutal manner” during a cleaning operation of the communal areas. The social landlord gives a completely different version and indicates that its agents were insulted during the intervention.
The manager came to calm the tensions in this social housing. A week earlier, the social landlord had cleared this building, nicknamed “the wart of the neighborhood” by local residents, of its bulky items. The cleaning company commissioned by the social landlord collected more than 65 m³ of objects stored in the building’s corridors.
Lack of humanity?
The operation nevertheless sparked an outcry among some residents. Nadia led the protest. This mother is furious: “What happened is unacceptable. The TMH agents acted brutally, seizing all the children’s bicycles in the corridors. When the parents tried to retrieve the bikes, the movers forcibly removed them before throwing them into a truck.”
She also said they were inhumane towards the elderly residents. “The cleaning crew removed all the flower pots and plants from the landings. Some grandmothers were deeply affected. They are still crying, because it was their only connection to nature in this urban landscape,” she says, her voice trembling.
Safety first
The picture painted by this tenant is a million miles from the version of events provided by the social landlord. Emmanuel Morel assures that the intervention of the movers had been “prepared well in advance”. The letters sent to all the tenants detailed the operating procedure for this “major clear-out”. “We tried to meet all the tenants personally before launching the operation and to explain the process. Our goal is to guarantee the safety of all residents. As a landlord, we must ensure that access to the apartments is clear for emergency services, thus minimizing the risk of accidents. The intervention was fully financed by the landlord, i.e. a little over 3,000 euros”, specifies the deputy general manager of TMH.
Sofas and trash
in all kinds
The photos of the common areas, taken by the public office teams before the cleaning, are revealing. In the corridors of the building, there was rubbish of all kinds, seats, sofas, tables and even a gas cooker in working order…
For Marie-Claude, a 72-year-old resident who has been a tenant for 34 years, it was necessary to tidy the hallways more carefully: “Personally, nothing was taken from me. However, for some people who never go out, a small table with a few chairs in front of their door was a breath of fresh air, encouraging social interactions with their neighbors.” TMH announces that bicycles and scooters in working order will soon be able to be collected by their owners. On the other hand, all the plants and flower pots collected are gone forever.
Complaint filed against a tenant
During the controversial cleaning operation, it seems that certain limits were crossed. The Rive Droite Customer and Territorial Manager, present during the intervention on July 3, was allegedly insulted in Arabic by a tenant who was unhappy about seeing her flower pots taken away by the movers, and called a “dirty Moroccan”. She filed a complaint on Friday at the central police station, as Toulouse Métropole Habitat systematically invites her to do. It will be up to the Toulouse prosecutor’s office to determine whether the facts are sufficiently characterized. The spokesperson for the angry tenants claims that this resident was jostled during the intervention of the TMH services and assures that she will file a complaint.