First victory for student tenants of Crous accommodation in Île-de-France. On Thursday, the administrative court of Paris suspended the decision of the Crous to limit the leases of occupation of the accommodation to June 30, 2024 in order to make them available for the Olympic and Paralympic Games of Paris 2024.
It all started at the beginning of May, when many students from the Ile-de-France claimed on social networks to have received e-mails from the Crous, asking them to leave their student residence in July and August 2024, in view of the Olympic Games.
How could such a measure be taken? A law of March 26, 2018, relating to the organization of the Paris Games, provides for the possibility of renting to the organizing committee (Cojo) student accommodation “vacant” on July 1, 2024, i.e. those for which the students terminated the lease for the summer period. And to ensure the vacancy of the accommodation concerned, the Crous has found a solution: rent them only until June 30, 2024, instead of August 31 usually.
The reduction in the duration of leases “suspended”
Marion Ogier, lawyer for the Solidaires Étudiant-es union, spoke to Le Parisien a few days ago “a real difficulty in interpreting the text”. “All the accommodation will be vacant, since the agreements will not go beyond that. We are not in a hypothesis where the students would have the choice or would have expressed their wish to leave the premises, ”she explained.
The student union Solidaires-es had thus taken legal action. On Thursday, the administrative court of Paris rendered its judgment. “The execution of the decision of the CROUS of Paris to generally limit the right to occupy accommodation in university residences (…) for the year 2023-2024 to June 30, 2024 is suspended”, informs the administrative body.
The Ministry of Higher Education defends itself
On X (formerly Twitter), the Crous says it takes note of the decision of the Paris administrative court, and “recalls that, contrary to what certain comments suggest, there will never be any question of depriving a student of accommodation during the Olympic Games of Paris 2024”. For her part, the Minister of Higher Education and Research Sylvie Retailleau also communicated on the subject in the evening.
“The accommodation offered for the Games will be grouped in a few residences. If students in these hotels want to keep their room during the summer of 2024, another accommodation will be offered to them. Everything will be done to limit the inconvenience: relocation nearby and payment of the costs for this trip, ”assures the Minister.
