This is an unprecedented crisis: the housing shortage affects all major French cities. In Lyon, “Special Envoy” followed Victor throughout an evening of wandering. Despite a permanent contract and a comfortable salary, the young man does not know where to sleep…
Would finding accommodation in a big city, even with a permanent job, become a desperate quest? Victor, 28 years old, is a fourth year pharmacy student, and he has a parallel job, also in a pharmacy. He’s been looking for an apartment for a month already.. In vain for the moment. When he leaves work, at 8 p.m., he doesn’t know where to go… or where he will spend the night.
The situation, “so unrealistic”however “something that’s not bad is that we discover Lyon”… The “Special Envoy” team followed the young man throughout his evening wandering around the city. In his backpack, a change of clothes for three days. The rest of his belongings are in the trunk of his car, parked in the suburbs.
To eat, Victor dines on a kebab and takes the opportunity to charge his phone. He will be able to call hotels to find a room… and make a call to his parents, who live in Normandy. His mother talks about coming to see him. “That would make me very happy, he assures her. Afterwards, I don’t have a place to welcome you…”
Stress… and a form of shame
A few days ago, his ex-partner kicked him out of the apartment he still shared with her. But maybe he could find accommodation with friends? “It’s not something I’m going to start shouting from the rooftops,” breathes Victor, who admits feeling a form of shame, having difficulty supporting “people’s outlook on this situation.”
For that night, his problem had a solution – an expensive one: a room for 109 euros in a hotel where the journalists accompanied him. Victor said to himself “glad, the bed looks nice.” But he who thought he would find peace once he arrived at his temporary destination collapsed when he realized this: “Actually, I’m not at home.”
Extract from “Desperately looking for rental”, a report to be seen in “Envoyéspecial” on November 2, 2023.
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