Will exiled students be left without housing in the summer of 2024?

The Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games are a global event that is generating both excitement and concern. Organized for the first time in France since the Albertville Winter Olympics in 1992, these Games represent an opportunity for the country to put itself forward on the international scene, to stimulate the local economy and to promote sport and Olympic values. However, today the CROUS of Ile-de-France will require students to leave their student housing in the summer of 2024 to accommodate the volunteers and partners of the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The CROUS intends to requisition 3,000 student housing units from university residences.
Students in situation precariousness, especially exiled students, will be the most affected by this situation. The living conditions of exiled students keep them in precarious situations that may prove incompatible with a return to school and the success of their studies, particularly with regard to difficulties related to the lack of housing. Moreover, this situation is likely to be even more difficult for these students, as they will have to leave their student housing during the summer and find other housing for con􀆟nuer their studies.
We are very concerned about this measure which will deprive exiled students of housing who often stay in their student housing during the summer because they have no family to take them in and the CROUS housing is their main housing, they cannot afford a vacation and they do not have the financial resources to rent other housing. In addition to putting them in an extremely precarious material situation situation, this decision would put them in an intense stress with consequences on their mental health. It is important to take into account the specific needs of these students and to find solutions to help them overcome the difficulties they face.
The shortage of student housing is not new and remains a major problem: it is a structural crisis that persists. This, combined with the crisis of poor housing for exiled people, postponed by the numerous associations in France, remains one of the major obstacles to living a dignified life and to pursuing one’s studies.
The French constitution guarantees everyone material security (10th and 11th paragraphs) and therefore the right to housing. The right to adequate housing is recognized as part of the right to an adequate standard of living in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article 25) and in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (article 11.1).
In order to guarantee the stability of the study path of exiled persons and therefore the right to education as well as the right to dignified and suitable housing, we ask the Ministry of Higher Education and Research:
– To abandon the injunction to leave CROUS housing without a solu􀆟on of relocation close to their institutions of higher education and public libraries open during this period and that this housing is compatible with the needs to carry out their study path
– To put in place clear, accessible and proactive measures for the relocation of students who will need it
– To make the criteria for rehousing students transparent, equitable and taking into account the specific needs of each student situations
– That CROUS ensures that the student can return to his or her place of residence once the Olympic Games are over and that he or she can renew his or her application for housing without administrative hindrance