The Sellier-Belfort demolition: “a case study that sums up the main problems with social housing”

Image: The Sellier-Belfort residence in Clichy. Credit: Rai Santana 

PARIS, France — The Sellier-Belfort residence, a decaying public housing complex in Clichy, stands in sharp contrast to the plethora of new developments in the area. 

The L-shaped, eleven-storey block was built in the 60s with 250 apartments to be rented by low-income families. Several units are now empty, their doors and windows sealed with bricks to prevent squatters from settling in. Some of the entrance halls have been vandalised, marred by shattered glass doors, missing wall tiles and illegible graffiti burned into the ceiling with cigarette lighters. 

In 2020, without consulting the tenants, the city council had agreed to a proposal from the French government to redevelop the building, together with its surrounding parking lot and green areas, into a new complex mixing housing, shops, and entertainment. The city also signed an agreement with the tenants that promised to relocate them by September. 

But only half of the tenants had found a replacement property so far, and the city has now pushed that deadline to the end of 2023. Those who still live in the residence, disheartened by the city’s neglect, have grown increasingly frustrated, fueling criticism that local officials are more interested in gentrifying poorer areas than helping those who already live there. 

“This demolition project is a social and environmental aberration,” says Alain Fournier, an elected member of the left-wing opposition in the city council. “It is a matter of changing the sociology of the city by replacing low-income residents with richer people, in the hope they will vote for the right.”

Mr. Fournier says that renovating the building — which is no architectural jewel but is structurally sound — would have been more reasonable. 

“The demolition will lead to a significant amount of waste that will probably end up in landfills”, he adds. 

Critics like Mr. Fournier contend that the Sellier-Belfort demolition is part of a broader push by the mayor, Rémi Muzeau, a right-wing conservative who was re-elected for a second term in 2020, to accelerate Clichy’s gentrification by privatising public buildings and destroying some green spaces. 

Those critics argue that the municipality has a vested interest in the process because it owns more than 10% of shares in Citallios, one of the private developers responsible for many of the city’s projects, including the 2021 purchase of Bic’s headquarters (the pen and lighters manufacturer) to transform it into a private residential complex. 

Under Mr. Muzeau’s governance, the city council privatised the Maison du Peuple, a heritage building that will be turned into a high-end catering complex and headquarters for Ducasse Paris, owned by the renowned French chef, Alain Ducasse. This year, the local government also sold the Henry-Miller cultural centre to L’Oréal, the cosmetic giant, which plans to demolish it to expand its headquarters. Last April, after public protests, the mayor cancelled a project that intended to turn a green corridor into a parking lot. 

In an interview with Le Parisien in 2020, Mr. Muzeau referred to the Sellier-Belfort project – which was assigned to Pichet, a private real estate group – as "the most important" of his new mandate. He claimed that renovating the building “is technically impossible”, without explaining why. 

Mr Muzeau is also the president of Hauts-de-Seine Habitat (HdSH), the public institution responsible for managing social housing properties in the area and helping the current tenants relocate. The city council and HdSH did not respond to requests for comment for this article.

The Sellier-Belfort residence in Clichy and its surrounding green areas, set to be demolished in 2023. 

“We have a new metro station [Saint-Ouen] and a new courthouse [Palais de Justice],” says Nordine Sadik, a 65-year-old migrant from Algeria who raised his three children at Sellier-Belfort but who is enthusiastic about finding a new property to share with his wife now that they are grown. 

“The new infrastructures are very impressive and bring a lot of new people to the area, so the mayor is right to renovate the rest of the city,” he adds. 

But many of the residents who were supposed to be relocated are still stuck in the increasingly dilapidated building because the pace of that renovation is pushing up rents in the area.  

The 2020 agreement with the city guaranteed that Sellier-Belfort tenants would be relocated within the same region, to properties of comparable size and price, unless they chose otherwise. 

According to HdSH, 75% of residents want to stay in Clichy. As the city’s development inflates real estate prices, though, the lack of affordable properties in the area has left the remaining families at Sellier-Belfort bitter about their present and uncertain about their future.  

“This relocation imposed onto low-income residents is a case study that sums up the main problems with social housing”, says Robert Crémieux, a spokesperson for CSF92, the residents association for the Hauts-de-Seine. 

Gieu Quang, 61, a retiree who shares a two-bedroom apartment on the fourth floor of the Sellier-Belfort complex with his mother and sister, has grown increasingly frustrated with the local government for neglecting maintenance and for turning the empty units into construction sites. 

“We can’t open the windows because the entire apartment will be covered in dust that comes from the abandoned units,” says Mr. Quang, whose family has been living in the building for more than three decades, after migrating from Vietnam to France. 

The Quang family in their apartment at Sellier-Belfort residence.

“There’s dust coming even through the pipes when we open the taps or flush the toilet. It’s unacceptable!” he adds, angrily raising his voice.  

The family now eats on the couch because the dining table is too close to the windows. In the kitchen, they covered the surfaces with plastic and wrapped the utensils in cloths to protect their food from the dust. Mould is spreading on the bathroom wall due to the lack of fresh air in the apartment.

Mr. Quang’s 85-year-old mother, Hiep Quang, who does not speak French, mimics scratching her skin as he explains that she has been getting skin rashes because of the dust and that he is concerned about her health given her medical history of respiratory issues. 

His sister, Thuc Hien Quang, 63, points to the overflowing garbage bins outside the building, remarking that the city council does not collect them as often as it used to. Mr. Quang raised the family’s concerns with the city council. But more than 3 months later, he is still waiting for a response.