AB-Habitat: the Scandalous Management of a Century-Old Social Landlord in Argenteuil-Bezons

Irregularities, malfunctions, failing financial management, there is no shortage of qualifiers to define the management of the social landlord of Argenteuil-Bezons “AB-Habitat” between 2016 and 2020. The national agency for the control of social housing offices has just released a report, still confidential, but very critical.

« Our tenants are the collateral victims of my predecessor’s mismanagement “, regrets Nessrine Manahouara, the new mayor of Bezons, who now chairs AB-Habitat and is trying, with a new team, to raise the bar.

This century-old social landlord, which houses 30,000 families in Argenteuil and Bezons, is in Ancols’ line of sight. In its 105-page report which will be released in June, the National Agency for the Control of Social Housing Offices denounces the management of the years 2016-2020, under the presidency of Dominique Lesparre, the last communist mayor of Val d’Oise.

Between 2018 and 2019, the cash flow of the second social landlord in Val-d’Oise fell from +58.1 million euros to -5.7 million euros.

The main reason: a compulsive purchase of housing in poor condition, expensive, and often paid cash.

In 2018, the Elan law obliges social housing organizations to group together if they manage less than 12,000 social housing units. To reach this threshold and remain independent, Ab-Habitat then urgently bought 765 homes from other social or private landlords for a total of 88 million euros.

« These asset buybacks were carried out without prior technical study and without forecast operating balancing. “, denounces the Ancols in its report.

« Our choice was political », justifies Dominique Lesparre, president of Ab-Habitat from 2016 to 2021, whose management is singled out. There was a real danger of losing autonomy. We had to reach 12,000 homes in a limited time. And we got there. ».

” But at what cost ? », regrets François Perrier the new general manager in charge of putting the ship back afloat.

Nearly half of the homes purchased are in poor condition and require major work that AB-Habitat will take years to pay for

François Perrier, new CEO of AB-Habitat

The board of directors, responsible for validating these purchases, did not have all the elements at the time. The body, made up of 18 members (mayors of Argenteuil and Bezons, municipal councillors, representatives of HLM federations or tenants) voted on these acquisitions ” despite the absence of a financing plan, technical study and operating balance “, points out the Ancols in its report. The acquisition projects, voted unanimously, were limited to “the address of the program, the number of dwellings and the purchase price ».

« We probably trusted too much“, Regrets George Mothron, LR mayor of Argenteuil.

« We are not technicians. Our goal was political “, justifies Philippe Doucet, socialist opponent also on the board of directors. ” It’s wrong”, retorts another board member, Vincent Lourier, of the National Federation of HLM Cooperatives. ” We had more information at our disposal than the Ancols implied. But the elected officials of the cities of Argenteuil and Bezons were so riveted on their purchasing objectives that the discussions were often more political than technical.

Dominique Lesparre, president of AB-Habitat from 2016 to 2021 puts the blame on its general manager, Salah Lounici. ” He said he was the real boss and wouldn’t let me get involved in management. But it’s true, his finance department was not up to speed and he did not take the necessary precautions to make these purchases. »

The management and organizational problems under the direction of Salah Lounici (whom we could not reach) were regularly denounced by certain administrators, employee unions or tenant associations. But Dominique Lesparre, who had fought to hire him, hesitated to fire him. The DG will finally be revoked in February 2022, a few months after the election of Nessrine Menahouara as mayor of Bezons and as president of AB-Habitat.

The elected socialist, who dethroned the last communist mayor of Val-d’Oise, is very severe on the years 2016-2020 targeted by Ancols: ” This management is a scandal. Buying at all costs, and at the wrong price, housing that requires thousands of euros of work, it crashes the finances of a company “, gets carried away the chosen one. ” When all the money available is devoted to buying housing, there is not much left to maintain the existing heritage.

We wanted to set up a business that houses 30,000 people

Nessrine Menahouara, new president of AB-Habitat

Indeed, Ancols denounces the low level of maintenance or rehabilitation work on buildings and apartments (30% lower than the median of organizations in the Ile-de-France region). There was also a lack of money for the works because hundreds of rents were not collected for lack of tenants. Ancols counts up to 8% of vacant apartments, while nearly 10,000 households are waiting for accommodation in Argenteuil and Bezons.

Another problem, described as irregularity in the report: the insufficient number of candidates during the allocation commissions and a certain opacity on the allocation of commercial hulls. « Despite our repeated requests “, confirms the administrator Vincent Lourier (of the National Federation of HLM cooperatives), we have never obtained clear information on the management of businesses and their allocation ».

“Why doesn’t the mayor give us accommodation? » is a phrase that we hear regularly in cities where rental tension is high. Some observers point out that an HLM office is a “tremendous political tool”. This allows access to the personal, financial and social data of thousands of families and voters. A business or association that receives significant rent discounts may feel indebted. An HLM office is also a major provider of local jobs.

But Dominique Lesparre denies all suspicion.

I have always been beyond reproach.

Dominique Lesparre, former PCF mayor of Bezons and former CEO of AB-Habitat

“I was mayor of Bezons for 18 years, and previously, housing assistant for 18 years. I received hundreds of people in my office. But when you feel that people are really in distress and in misery, it’s not politics, it’s human. I am a communist and I have always defended that cities should have 40% social housing. You will never make me say that I allocated housing for political purposes. I have always been beyond reproach. »

AB-Habitat tries to go up the slope. With the appointment of a new CEO in 2022, the organization is focusing on reorganization and transparency. The goal: to straighten the bar of finances and rehabilitate the heritage. Bank loans, the search for subsidies, the fight against vacant housing have made it possible to replenish the cash. The technical and financial departments are reorganizing to prove to Ancols that the organization is evolving in line with its recommendations: “become a technical tool once again at the service of public policy on social housing and desensitize it to local policy issues. »

The problem is that tenants will have to be very patient. Many maintenance and renovation works having been delayed, they have the feeling that the current management is dragging its feet, while it claims to do everything possible to make up for management errors.

Ancols did not respond to our interview requests to find out if sanctions were being considered.