Toulouse University Hospital: illegally occupied for 6 years, a pavilion must be freed by spring
The Armengaud building, on the Purpan hospital site, had been occupied by several families for six years. The Administrative Court has just ordered the eviction of the occupants within five months.
It was the former service of infectious and tropical diseases. In Purpan, the Armengaud building, decommissioned in 2015 after the department moved to the new Pierre-Paul Riquet hospital, had been taken over by several families in September 2016. On two occasions, the request for eviction made by the University Hospital Center ( CHU) of Toulouse, owner of the premises, had been rejected, first by the Administrative Court of Toulouse (September 2016) then by the Council of State (July 2017), on the grounds that this occupation did not constitute a risk and respected the immediate vicinity.
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Once again seized by the Toulouse University Hospital, the Administrative Court of Toulouse has just rendered a new decision. This November 15, 2022, he orders the “occupiers without right or title to leave the premises within five months”.
The administrative justice recalls that the Armengaud pavilion has never been downgraded and is still part of the public domain but that it is occupied by several people, without right or title since September 23, 2016. It also puts into perspective the project of extension of the Children’s Hospital (Grand Hôpital des Enfants) which includes the illegally occupied building. This project, highly anticipated given the narrowness of the premises and the explosion of pediatric activity for this regional referral hospital, was announced for 2025. The court considers the interest of this project and thus “the justification that the building is free of occupancy within a reasonable time”.
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Taking into account in particular the interests of the children affected by this occupation, some of whom are in school as well as people with disabilities, the administrative justice “decided to grant the occupants a period of voluntary departure of five months, in order to enable them to organize their departure and collect their personal and household effects.
