VIDEOS. Mold, pests, burst pipes… Substandard housing scandal in the Melun area

This text corresponds to the transcription section of the report above. Click on the video to watch it in full.

Sarah is an angry tenant. He criticized the dilapidated pipes in his 55-year-old building in Melun (Seine-et-Marne). Especially with leaks in the hot water meter. “We lost the tap. So, turning off the water is tricky. I thought about using pliers too, but considering their damaged condition, I chose not to touch them so as not to damage everything. The tenant was notified, the guardian has taken note.” Meanwhile, Sarah tries to limit the damage using whatever means she has, namely a bucket she empties several times a day. Downstairs, rain falls from the ceiling.

The France Télévisions team is located in the heart of the Almont district: three towers of 13 floors, social housing built in the early 1970s. The city is now notorious for drug trafficking. But inside the apartment, the problem comes from elsewhere. The city’s sanitation department noted several violations and asked the homeowner to fix them a year ago. This case is not an isolated case.

Elise wanted to remain anonymous because she was embarrassed to reveal her living conditions. This tenant pays 800 euros a month in rent for her four-room apartment, where she is raising five children alone. In the bathroom, the electricity hasn’t been on for more than a year. And in her daughter’s bedroom, which she repainted at her own expense a year ago, the mold reappeared around the windows, slowly eating away at the ceiling. “I contacted the insurance company, they came and said that the problem was not with them, but with the owner. The owner of the house came and said that there was a small problem with the facade”he continued. And what do they recommend doing? “None at all.”

Then, four months after reporting the problem, Elise received a letter from the social housing owner: “To avoid the appearance of dampness in your home, here are some tips. We recommend that you open the windows for at least half an hour a day. To remove traces of mold, we recommend that you clean all traces with white vinegar.” It’s enough to amaze this mother. “When I received a letter saying the need for ventilation, I said to myself: but is he kidding? While I pay the rent on time, the insurancethis, I did whatever… In the end, I didn’t get any help in return. This is sad.”

Habitat 77, the owner of the residence, is a leading social landlord in Seine-et-Marne. It manages more than 17,000 housing units in about a hundred cities in the department. Its president, Denis Jullemier, wanted to show off the new residence in Saint-Fargeau-Ponthierry (Seine-et-Marne). An investment of nine hundred million euros is planned between now and 2030 to build 3,000 houses and rehabilitate another 6,000 houses.

However this program does not cover the three rounds at Melun. The France Télévisions team showed him the picture. According to him, the presence of dealers will hinder large-scale renovations. “We will not be able to carry out this major transformation of housing if we have not resolved the existing problems in agreement with the state, with our partners (…) But we will clearly ensure that there is an appropriate response that has been taken and will lead to adequate housing”said Denis Jullemier. It also claims to have invested 330,000 euros since the start of 2025 to repair damage to public areas.

In this environment, residents also live surrounded by pests. The city is full of rats, sometimes even in apartments, just like cockroaches. For Sarah, the response from social landlords alone is not enough. “Of course we never deny the incivility that occurred. On the other hand, cockroaches, pipes, mold, mice, and so on, are not dealers. So, once again, justifying not doing anything on the pretext that there are drug dealers.”he taunted.

Since the start of 2025, police have made 90 arrests. Five months after filming, Habitat 77 closed the water column, but another leak appeared. And work on the apartment being filmed is still not finished.