Housing is the primary concern for the French. Yet, with rising rents, increasing loan rates, decreasing rental offers, and a surge in demand for social housing... more and more French people are struggling to find a place to live.
This is even more complicated for newcomers with refugee status or foreign students.
In response to this situation, and recognizing the significant number of vacant buildings in France, Simon Guibert decided to create Caracol to develop solidarity housing in empty properties, transformed into living spaces temporarily.
The association signs temporary occupation agreements (for a minimum of one year) with owners of vacant buildings, allowing it to "create" new housing and offer relatively affordable rents to roommates. This effective strategy has enabled Caracol to house 450 people since its launch, including 200 refugees.
The main goal of this association is to provide people in precarious situations with temporary stability so they can rebound and eventually settle down permanently. Today, it demonstrates this success, as Caracol enables 95% of its solidarity roommates to find sustainable housing after their co-living period.
Moreover, these co-living solutions also offer multicultural environments that have "a strong impact on the perception of others," explains the founder of Caracol. Having experienced living in two different co-living situations at the launch of Caracol, he validated his initial intuition: living together, amidst a mix of cultures in daily life and at home, provides the opportunity to change one’s perspective on others and fosters genuine open-mindedness.
If you wish to deepen your knowledge on this topic: https://www.airzen.fr/colibree-fr-une-autre-idee-de-la-colocation-entre-les-generations/
