the hell of badly insulated housing

It has become a habit for a few weeks. A resident of the Chabot tower, in Niort (Deux-Sèvres), closes its shutters at 10 a.m.: “The heat is starting to come into the apartment and suddenly it’s unbearable. Sometimes I have trouble breathing”. Its neighborhood dates back to the 1960s and according to its occupants, the insulation of certain buildings has never been redone. With 30°C at home, Luc spends his days in the dark. Six floors higher, identical situation at Martine’s, with a few more degrees. Ventilators give her headaches, so at age 79, she found her solution: “I take off my dress, I stay in my underwear and my bra. Anyway, what do you want to do? We can’t ask for anything, it’s paper walls. I hear my neighbor when she takes her shower .”

Exasperated residents. In the line of sight, the social landlord Deux-Sèvres Habitat. However, the public body affirms, in a press release, that all the housing has completely acceptable energy performance. Words that make the Trade Union Confederation of Families, an association for the defense of tenants, react: “The tenants can no longer bear it, they really have the impression that the lessor does not take them into consideration, whereas it is the rents of the tenants that feed the budget of the whole office”. For the social landlord, the priority remains the control of winter loads. Fighting the heat is not on the agenda.