“In the morning, the apartment is freezing”: Laura, a single mother, talks about fuel poverty

TESTIMONY. Laura and her son live in a thermal sieve and have suffered from energy poverty for several years. This single mother who struggles to heat her home tells Capital about her daily life.

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“I have to sleep with a hot water bottle“. Like 12 million people in France, Laura is in a situation of energy poverty. This single mother has lived in social housing of around sixty square meters in Besancon (Doubs), since 2019. A poorly insulated and damp apartment, located in an old building built in the 1960s, which makes her life hell, especially in winter. She tells Capital about her daily life.

Laura returned to live in Besançon, her hometown, with her baby following a separation five years ago. In an emergency situation, a friend helps her find a HLM apartment in the building where she lives. “I was not able to visit the accommodation, I only had photos, but I could not be difficult as a single mother with a low income», explains Laura. She moved into the apartment and immediately noticed that the accommodation was in a catastrophic state. The linoleum is dilapidated, the windows are very poorly insulated, the paint is peeling and above all the accommodation is very damp.

So much so that mold quickly appears in the cellar and in the bedrooms. “I have to wash all the walls at least once a month, it’s exhausting“, she continues. To avoid mold, the single mother is forced to constantly ventilate the home by opening the windows, which causes the temperature in the apartment to drop. In vain. “This humidity has consequences on our health, I breathe poorly, I have asthma, my son is often sick”.

Heating bills are soaring

Another problem is that the collective heating installed in Laura’s building is turned off every night, from 8 p.m., in order to save energy. Winter being particularly harsh in the Besançon region, the temperature regularly drops well below 15 degrees in the apartment. One of the two bedrooms is even unusable in winter due to the cold. However, Laura pays 125 euros for heating each month, or a third of her rent. So, to try to maintain an acceptable temperature in her apartment, she is forced to use electric auxiliary heating, which increases her energy bill even more, by 60 euros. Significant costs for this mother who is unable to work due to a disability, and benefits from the Allowance for Disabled Adults (AAH).

Of course, Laura tried to contact the social landlord several times to complain about the situation. “We’ve been getting pushed around for years, the landlord tells us that he can’t identify the problem. The building is so old that renovations are extremely expensive, if not technically impossible. We have been waiting for a facade renovation for months to improve the insulation of the building, but it never arrives», she regrets.

To leave this environment that is harmful to her physical and mental health, Laura has only one solution: move. But with the housing crisis, rental offers are rare in Besançon, and the requirements requested by landlords are inaccessible for the single mother with her low income. “Rents have soared in recent years, it is impossible to accommodate me in the private park», deplores Laura, who has submitted a rehousing application in the social park to the town hall of Besançon. Hoping his nightmare ends soon.