The associations and citizen movements Alliance Citoyenne, Alternatiba Rhône and Last Renovation met this Friday afternoon in the Pierre Baratin district for this symbolic action. In all, around twenty tenants threw their bills into a fire by calling on regional and national politicians to help them.
Invoice in hand, Martine, union representative of the tenants of the district is now retired but says she is shocked by the increase in heating costs which have risen for her by 66%. Especially since the situation is far from stable: “We have heating cuts all week, we have never paid so much and we have never been so cold.” After 43 years of work and contributions, Martine did not expect a retirement like this: “I’m counting pennies at the end of the month to buy a baguette. I want to be able to live and I want all tenants to have the right to live.”
“My husband had to find a second job to pay the bills”
This annoyance is the watchword of the Villeurbannais district where everything is constantly increasing. Boussife, co-president of the Pierre Baratin district union, finds the current situation quite hypocritical: “We talk about an energy crisis, but why are the poor getting poorer and the rich getting richer? It’s always the same people who pay.” Boussife is not only there to criticize, he also wants to propose solutions so that change can happen as quickly as possible: “Why not do geothermal energy here? Why not solar panels on HLM with the help of the State as for individual houses? The social landlords have state aid and are attacking us.”
More than rising prices, these are above all consequences for the inhabitants. Thus, Hayet, who lives in the Jacques Monod district of which she is the union vice-president, who has been on leave for a year and a half, finds it difficult to see the end of the month: “My husband had to find a second job to pay the bills. It’s been four years since we went on vacation.”
Residents jointly demand “the cancellation of the increase in charges to lessors, the freezing of rents and the increase in APL”. They were supported by Gabriel Amard and Marie-Charlotte Garin, respectively LFI deputy and EELV deputy from the Rhône who briefly went there.
This Friday afternoon, after this symbolic action, the union delegates were received by Renaud Payre, vice-president of the Métropole de Lyon delegate for Habitat, to discuss these price increases. On June 12, the inhabitants of these two districts will this time be received by Bruno Bernard, president of the Métropole de Lyon.
A.C.
