“In the morning, the apartment is freezing”: Laura, solo mom, tells the energy precariousness

TESTIMONY. Laura and her son have lived in a thermal colander and have undergone energy precariousness for several years already. This mother who raises her child alone and struggles to heat her home tells her daily life in Capital.

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“”I have to sleep with a hot water bottle»: Laura is one of the 12 million French people in a situation of Energy precariousness. This single mother lives in a social housing of around sixty square meters in Besancon (Doubs), since 2019. An poorly insulated and humid apartment, located in an old building built in the 1960s, which makes her live hell, especially in winter. She tells her daily life to Capital.

Laura returned to live in Besançon, her hometown, with her baby following a separation five years ago. In an emergency, a friend helps her find an HLM apartment in the building where she lives. “”I could not visit the accommodation, I only had photos, but I could not take the difficult as a solo mom with low incomes“Explains Laura. She settles in the apartment and immediately notes that the accommodation is in a catastrophic state. The lino is dilapidated, the windows are very badly isolated, the paint is flayed and especially the accommodation is very humid.

So much so that mold quickly appears in the cellar, and in the rooms. “”I have to remove all the walls at least once a month, it’s exhaustingShe continues. To avoid mold, the single mother is forced to ventilate the accommodation permanently, opening the windows, which makes the temperature of the apartment fall. In vain. “”This humidity has consequences on our health, I breathe badly, I do asthma, my son is often sick ”.

Heating invoices are soaring

Another problem, the collective heating installed in the Laura building is cut every night, from 8 p.m., in order to save energy. Winter being particularly tough in the Besançon region, the temperature regularly drops well below 15 degrees in the apartment. One of the two rooms is even unusable in winter due to the cold. However, Laura pays 125 euros in heating each month, a third of her rent. So, to try to maintain an acceptable temperature in her apartment, she is forced to use an electric auxiliary heating, which makes her energy bill, 60 euros. Important charges for this mother who is not able to work due to a handicap, and benefits from the allocation to disabled adults (AAH).

Of course, Laura tried to contact the social landlord several times to complain about the situation. “”We have been walking for years, the lessor tells us that he cannot identify the problem. The building is so old that the renovations are extremely expensive, even technically impossible. We have been waiting for a facelift for months to improve the insulation of the building, but it never happensShe regrets.

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