The chronic lack of housing in Corte calls for solutions. All the players in student life are looking into the subject
The tensions on thestudent accommodation at court is a recurring problem, and the institutions continue to apprehend it from all angles. And with a range of 4,900 to 5,000 students welcomed by theUniversity of Corsica for about five years, the question seems far from being resolved.
READ ALSO: University of Corsica: digital tablets for the most precarious students
It also affects all social classes of students from Corte, the fault of a saturation of both social and private housing stock. “Each year, we receive around 2,000 requests for social housing operated by students. However, we only have 840 rental units, half of which are kept, from one school year to the next, by students who are already tenants. “explains Marc-Paul Luciani, general manager of Crous de Corse.
On average, only 420 dwellings would therefore actually be available. An offer well below demand, which is also explained by the qualities of the accommodation (renovation, shared gardens, fireplaces, etc.).
Each academic year, 300 students waiting for accommodation
A reality that students try to face by turning to the private park, to family or friendly accommodation, or by moving away from the epicenter, often in nearby villages. In this case, being conveyed seems imperative but, for this social audience, the means of being conveyed are not necessarily obvious. Coming back and forth between home and campus can also lead to a deterioration in study conditions.
In all, they would be 300 students, at the time of each return, to find themselves waiting for accommodation.
And although the following months allow some to be released, the supply remains insufficient. “There are only about ten annual withdrawals, which is therefore marginal. To meet demand globally, we estimate our needs at 400 additional housing units”says the director of Crous de Corse.
A university construction of 107 housing units should also see the light of day by 2024 in the heart of the city. But the noose is tightening in the face of a shortage of land and availability within the city walls, or in the immediate vicinity of the Paoline city. Playing on the attractiveness of the buildings.
Create a student housing observatory
Nevertheless, in the pipes of the master plan of the University of Corsica, the creation of a student housing observatory is woven, delayed by the health crisis, in cooperation with the rectorate, the Collectivity of Corsica (CdC) and the Crous. “This would allow us to have reliable and proven data, to have a snapshot at the moment T and to call on projects for constructions”says Marc-Paul Luciani.
A project that the student union Consulta di a Ghjuventù Corsa is following closely, a stakeholder in the reflection. “Demand is growing faster than our supply. It takes between two and three years for accommodation to come into being and in the meantime there is always a student left behind.says Pierre-Joseph Paganelli, spokesperson for the union. The Crous offer cannot absorb all the requests, which raises questions about the development of the city and the remote housing areas. Among other things, we will have to diversify the means to reach the campuses.”
READ ALSO: In an attractive territory, the difficult rental market in Ajaccio
Indeed, rent control being only possible in a so-called “tense” area, that is to say with a population of at least 50,000 inhabitants such as Bastia and Ajaccio, there do not seem to be many solutions. .
“There is only one university town in Corsica and it is subject to a geographical constraint in terms of spatial planning. We cannot solve this problem like in the big cities on the continent, defends Pascal Zagnoli, vice-president of the Corsican Youth Assembly. We need to work with the CdC on a legislative experiment of a rent control, or find another mechanism.
In the meantime, the avenues for developing the social real estate offer in Corte are turning towards the areas of Chabrières and Saint-Jean.
Although far from the center, they would make it possible to maintain the annual financial differential calculated in relation to the private offer, and estimated at 2,500 euros on average. That is the equivalent of six months of accommodation at the Crous de Corse.
–
