Squatters in northeast Paris face eviction

In a defunct office building in Paris’ 10th arrondissement sixty people, including 27 children from 13 families have squatted the premises since just before the start of 2013. But within six months they’ll be forced to clear the unused building, according to a court order declared today.

Black Thursday faces eviction in this building in northeast Paris jeudi-noir.org

Two housing groups, Right to Housing (DAL) and Black Thursday, which helped situate the families in the building nine months ago, confirmed the verdict.

Some families may be expelled in as little as two months, but Ophelia Latil from Black Thursday said most families should be able to pass the winter before they are fully evicted.

Under French law, squatters that claim a space for more than two days cannot be legally evicted unless they are sued by the building’s owner – a process that can take months.

The defence said in a June hearing that families living in the building were there out of necessity and that they had requested long-term social housing for years.

Fatima Ben Omar, a member of Black Thursday, was previously homeless for half a year before finding shelter as a squatter in the northeast of Paris.

She explained to the French news agency AFP that in six months time she could once again become a victim of Paris’ housing squeeze.

"It is a truce,” she said. “In six months, we will face the same problem of finding housing."

The future of the building itself is also uncertain.

The City is trying to purchase the building for a below market price and will be settled in court at a later date.