“Montpellier, Zero Bidonville”: the Quatorze association rewarded for its action

One of the shanty towns next to the Zénith, where the Quatorze association works hand in hand with its residents. Association Quatorze – Christophe FORTIN

Le réaménagement des biens vacants fait l’objet de chantiers participatifs avec ses futurs occupants et des bénévoles venues prêter main-forte. Ass

Quatorze is one of the 13 2024 nuggets honored this October 9 by the Fondation de France at Station F, in Paris, for its project to gently eliminate shantytowns in Montpellier.

With around ten shantytowns, including 9 in Montpellier, 2 in Lattes and 1 in Saint-Jean-de-Védas, housing, all sites combined, between 500 and 600 people, the Montpellier metropolis has plenty to do. Undignified living conditions, insalubrity, lack of access to water, precariousness at all levels and children dropping out of school are the ills of all these occupants.

Also, although partnership work has been undertaken with the Abbé Pierre Foundation, Cimade, Area and Médecins du Monde to combat poverty, the City and Metropolitan Area of ​​Montpellier have welcomed with open arms the branch of the association Quatorze in 2022 and its project “Montpellier, Zero Bidonville”.

Created in 2007 in Paris by architecture students, the association Quatorze has since spread to France and even to Alicante, Spain. Its objectives are twofold. The first is to improve the precarious living conditions in the shanty towns by launching participatory projects to provide water, electricity, toilets, showers, etc. while waiting for a housing solution to be provided for everyone.

Fourteen: the origin of the name

As an architect, fourteen is the name chosen in reference to the 14 bones of the face and the 14 phalanges of the hands, the link between thinking and doing. Words of an architect. “We are in a logic of designing spaces, rehabilitating housing, but by doing so with those most concerned. This is also why we work a lot through participatory projects“, explains Thomas Henrion, Zéro Bidonville Territory coordinator, at Montpellier.

Another advantage of participatory construction sites: open to all audiences, “this allows people to meet who would not otherwise meet. These are therefore beautiful and great moments of meeting “also“, he adds.

The second objective is the gentle elimination of all shanty towns by creating so-called intermediate housing. "The lever that we propose to activate is that of making vacant properties available, which we rehabilitate, before families are welcomed there", explains Thomas Henrion, coordinator of the Quatorze Zero Bidonville Territory in Montpellier.

The first "victories"

September 2022 : the City of Montpellier makes the Villa des Grèzes available, pre-empted a few months earlier, with a view to clearing the “Skatepark de la Mosson”, occupied by around thirty people. The role of Quatorze ? Design the interior layout of the place and lead a participatory project. "The design of the development was done with the families who were going to come and settle there, because our approach is to consult them beforehand on their needs, then to build with them“, comments Thomas Henrion. The City is responsible for the work to secure the villa, and the other associations for the actions related to their skills. Early November: the skatepark shantytown is cleared.

The developer makes his property available for one year

Another victory, in October 2022. The households of the “Mas de Pierre” shantytown are threatened with eviction. A private developer then offers to make several apartments available for one year, in the heart of Écusson, before rehabilitation work. Quatorze coordinates the operation. The families move in, the shantytown disappears, and the owner recovers his property on time. The association is committed to this and keeps its word, but recognizes that owners are still very reluctant to take the plunge.

The sequel? The development of a property of nearly 1,000 m2 in the center of Montpellier, owned by the City. To be continued. Good but not enough in view of the needs and the thousands of square meters represented by all the vacant properties in our territory. Of course, “we are carrying out temporary projects, we know that. But what we are defending is to make infill housing a machine. In other words, it is always having intermediate places so that those who do not have a social housing solution behind can benefit from other intermediate housing“, concludes Thomas Henrion.

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