In Vendée, temporary housing for seasonal workers who cannot find accommodation

In the commune of Chanverrie in Vendée, the unemployment rate is only 4% for 5,700 inhabitants. However, for employees working on site, the possibilities of housing are very limited: few houses for sale and no rentals. “People arrive for three months, they don’t have accommodation, or camping, but it’s a bit complicated for them, so these people refuse jobs”, testifies David Jamin, local pizza maker. To change this situation, the municipality has decided to set up flexible and transitional housing.

The principle is simple: to offer temporary houses, which are for rent for one year, renewable once only. 20 individual pavilions of 62 m² in wooden framework which will be established on a ground in the course of development. A new concept to which employees will be able to access according to certain criteria. “You have to meet the resource conditions and you have to be a mobile employee in the Vendée department”, details Sylvie Boiteller-Doublier, Customer and Territory Director at Podelia.

The rents for these temporary houses grouped under the name Habiflex will be fixed between 350 and 420 euros. These are located on a site provided by the municipality. “We had land which is intended for urbanization in a few years, we thought it best to place this project of temporary houses there”, explains the mayor of Chanverrie.

The initiative will be effective in a very short time. Indeed, these habitats will see their first tenants arrive at the beginning of December 2022. A direct impact, which will have cost the sum of 10,000 euros to the municipality, mainly invested in making the plot of land granted viable.