The tiny house, the ideal solution to rehouse the homeless?
In Rouen (Seine-Maritime), we met beneficiaries and an association that has provided tiny houses, an ecological and minimalist housing method, to rehouse the homeless.
The tiny house has been a trend for several years in France. Well developed in North America, this new form of housing even a television broadcast. But beyond the fashion phenomenon, this ecological and minimalist housing mode seems to be the best alternative for relocating the homeless.
In Rouen, a social enterprise “La Fabrik à Yoops” has been producing small wooden houses (tiny house type) for the homeless since April 2022. For the construction of these houses, 6 people are mobilized: 3 graduates in the field of wood, including two who have a double profile (social educator and wood professional), 2 and soon 3 people in integration and a work-study student.
“When you build something, there is a whole process that brings satisfaction to you and to others. What would be great is that through workshops everyone will be able to build their own tiny “, rejoices Nadia Rahmani, one of the employees of Fabrik in Yoops. This 30-year-old was a specialized educator before receiving training in carpentry. She is (for the moment) the only woman on the team who notices over the weeks the benefits of this hybrid team. “ I noticed that one of the people in reintegration straightened up physically. He has another posture, we feel he is straighter. He was welcomed here and he found his place,” she adds.
By the end of the year, around ten small houses will have come out of their workshops and around twenty in 2023.
La Fabrik à Yoops was created following very successful feedback from the association “A Roof to Employment”. The first five houses have been distributed in the city of Rouen (Route de Bapeaume, Luciline district and Route de Darnétal). 10 different people have been able to benefit from it since 2020. Double satisfaction for the association: a significant return to employment has been observed. This is the case of Alex. This forty-something lived for almost a year at the foot of the Corneille bridge in Rouen. Thanks to the Un Toit pour l’Emploi association, he benefits from Little house. For him, it’s a real renaissance. Abandoned by his relatives when he was suffering from a serious depression, he found refuge in books so as not to sink into alcohol. His passion for reading, he can now enjoy it in his little house:
” I know where I’m going to sleep when I get home in the evening, I’ll be able to wash, eat and be warm. It’s essential. A roof changes everything! If it hadn’t been for this accommodation, I might have died under a bridge.”
video length: 05min 59
Alex lived for almost a year on the streets in Rouen. Today he lives in a tiny house and has started a social and professional reintegration.
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©France 3 Normandy
It was in the social restaurant La Chaloupe in Rouen that he met Franck Renaudin from the NGO “un Toit vers l’Emploi”. The president of the association came to present his rehousing project for the homeless. Alex applies and receives the keys to his house in March 2020. A date engraved in his memory: “ It was the end of the nightmare, I feel good, I am in training, I am preparing a diploma. I couldn’t ask for a better new start. »
For Franck Renaudin, Alex’s story proved to him that the project was viable and concrete. He therefore opened the Fabrik in Yoops right next to the day center “la case Départ” where the beneficiaries can benefit from listening, showers, washing machines, workshops and support towards employment and housing.
“ Since the beginning of the experiment, we have 6 active houses which have generated 12 different people, one of which serves as temporary and emergency housing which has benefited 3 different people. Of the 9 other people, 7 are still housed in yoops with no prospect of change in the coming months », specifies Franck Renaudin.
” Most of the people we host in our yoops quickly find a job or a paid activity. Suddenly they lose in APL and are required to contribute to their rent (270 euros of rent and 50 euros of charge). It’s good news not to depend on state aid and becoming independent is part of the journey. »
An overwhelming majority of residents do not want to move. We have two locals who asked how they came to own their yoops
Franck Renaudin, “a Roof to Employment”
“ The big surprise is that once settled in a Yoops, these people do not want to return to “classic” housing. Moreover, we do not put an end to housing: as long as the person respects his commitment, that is to say to accept social support and pay his rent. From there she can stay as long as she wants. » adds Franck Renaudin.
La Fabrik à Yoops works with its partners such as banks and the Caisse des dépôts to ensure that people who were still recently on the street are likely to become owners of their tiny house.
Currently 20 people are waiting for Yoops. For these, conventional housing would not fit because their life course is complicated, they have a long history of street life: “ the longer the street history, the more suitable the yoop is because this mode of living remains very close to the street. Several people have been able to tell us: when I’m in my yoop when things aren’t going well, I open my door and I’m at street level. When my street buddies want to come see me, there’s no digital code barrier or elevator, they knock on the door and I’m there. If we really want to move towards 0 homeless territories regardless of where in France, cities and communities must contain this alternative habitat: tiny houses, yurts… whatever, but the alternative habitat must be included in the development of the city otherwise we will always have people out of stock who will not want to insert apartments adds Franck Renaudin.
La Fabrik in Yoops offer a rental investment to individuals, companies, communities or social landlords. The objective is to buy a yoop and lose it in rental management at the association “la Case Départ”. Those who buy the house will receive a monthly income and will have the great satisfaction of knowing that the house is occupied by a person who was in a street situation. Of the first 6 houses produced, 5 houses will be sold by the end of 2022 (between 35 and 40,000 euros).
” On a great need to identify new land in the Metropolis of Rouen as a priority. We are also particularly interested in anything that is wasteland because we can put our yoops on non-matching grounds, we will take care of retuning them in the future. We are on a mode of habitat that is mobile, that we move relatively easily so we can be on land”.
A provision of at least 3 years is required. Individuals can also make their land available free of charge. On this date, 5 houses are extended pending land.
The social landlords of the Metropolis of Rouen also work with the Departmental Directorate of Territories and the Sea of Seine-Maritime (DDTM 76) to try to approve tiny houses as social housing.
Find the portrait of Frank Renaudin in this report from France 3 Normandy.
video length: 09min 41
Portrait of Franck Renaudin, “Un Toit pour l’Emploi” association
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©France 3 Normandy
The team of this report won the reporters of Hopes 2022 award.