“At 100m, we would have paid €200 more”: in the heart of Petit-Bard, in Montpellier, this residence attracts more affluent tenants

Bâtie en R + 4, la résidence H2O compte 33 logements… dont Agirc-Arrco est le nu-propriétaire. Midi Libre – T. J.

1 avenue du Petit-Bard, H2O was inaugurated this Wednesday, September 25, on the sidelines of the national HLM congress. It is based on an original concept of social diversity.

Mélanie, Tristan and their daughter Jade are delighted with their accommodation: a 100 m2 apartment for 1,000 euros per month, including charges. Their address is not ordinary: 1 avenue du Petit-Bard, a significant name, symbolic of a priority neighborhood. She is a nurse, he is an elevator operator and they do not fit the criteria for applying for social housing. However, they have made the voluntary choice to come and live in this neighborhood. “At Les Tonnelles, at 100 m, we would have paid 200 euros more expensive: 1,200 euros per month,”, says Mélanie. Since April, she and her family have been living in the H2O residence.

The concept: to provide good and cheaper housing for private sector employees who cannot benefit from social housing

“We are working on a program to diversify a neighborhood that is essentially focused on social housing. Our concept is to house families who are private sector employees and whose income does not allow them to access social housing,explains Marielle Schmidt, legal director of Foncière Logement. By providing them with quality housing at an attractive rent, we are contributing to a social mix aspect."

"This will help pay for pensions"

The 33 housing units in the H2O residence are thus intended for tenants who, a priori and in the first instance, would not have come to settle in Petit-Bard. This is the success of Foncière Logement, a joint association, managed by social partners and employers (Medef, unions, etc.), non-profit and with missions of general interest. The association has 36,000 housing units in France, including 24,000 in this form, in free rent, intended for a public who would not have settled in a priority-classified neighborhood. For the anecdote, and much more, if Action Logement, on which Foncière Logement depends, is the financier of these residences, the bare ownership belongs to… Agirc-Arrco. “In thirty years, Agirc-Arrco will collect the rents, explains Marielle Schmidt. This will help pay for private sector pensions."

At the time of the inauguration: the mayor with the managers of Fonci̬re Logement and Action Logement. Midi Libre РT. J.

The H2O residence, built in R + 4, has 33 dwellings, all occupied. This Wednesday, September 26, it was inaugurated on the sidelines of the 84th national HLM congress, in the presence of national officials and the mayor of Montpellier, Michaël Delafosse who, evoking social diversity, greatly appreciated the initiative : "We are not condemned to this inevitability of zoning!"