A rural land company planned to repopulate the heart of small towns and villages

Une partie de l’équipe qui porte le projet est venue les présenter en sous-préfecture de Lodève. A.M.

Elle prévoit la création d’une société coopérative pour l’achat d’habitat vacant afin d’offrir un nouveau mode d’accès à la propriété.

Acquiring properties, renovating them and selling usage rights to future owners to combat degraded and vacant housing in the town and village centres of the Cœur d’Hérault, that’s the principle! Brought together in a development association for a rural and solidarity land trust (FRS) created last summer, with its headquarters in Lodève and its office in the premises of the Novel Id du Pays economic agency in Saint-André, citizens are investing in an innovative and original project.

Accelerating renovations and putting housing back on the market

“We start from an observation and a significant need for housing, which nevertheless exists in our town centres”, recalls former MP Sébastien Rome, who is involved in the process. In the Heart of Hérault, it is estimated that more than 4,200 homes have been empty for more than two years.“To speed up renovations, this rural solidarity land trust seems to be a good tool. It can help repopulate our centers, put vacant and degraded buildings back into service to quickly create quality housing.”

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“We have invented a new model that we hope will develop and spread” confirms Jean-Noël Chassé, co-founder of the FRS and member of the association Réfléchir et agir in Lunas. Because today, it is very difficult to buy and deal with the work behind it despite the aid. “The property company will buy old village houses over the very long term, manage energy renovations and offer people the opportunity to buy the right of use, a bit like in a condominium. It will maintain the common areas.”

From a boiler room project in Lunas to that of housing in the Heart of Hérault

&In Lunas, near Lodève, a public heat distribution project is taking shape for the entire village center. "It all started with a citizen proposal to have shared heating between the public service and private homes that adjoin each other. Instead of everyone changing their boiler in their own corner or equipping themselves, we are proposing a collective solution, adapted and not too expensive, says Jean-Noël Chass&eacute for the association Réfl&eacutechir et agir in Lunas. This is where the project of a collective boiler room using wood from the surrounding forests was born."

The question then arose of the empty houses in the center, which could benefit from this boiler room.“But we needed an intervention tool because there is no operator, no HLM office that will come to the depths of rural areas. offer us solutions." The reflection, aided by the Regional Union of Cooperatives and the Pays Cœur d’Hérault, has made it possible to develop an original rural solidarity land project in three years which should develop in Cœur d’Hérault.

A start for 2025-2026

To achieve this, the association has vocation to transform itself into a collective interest cooperative society (SCIC). “The idea is that it will then have its own economic ecosystem around artisans, residents, and local authorities.” continue the project leaders.

The approach caught the attention of Éric Suzanne, who organized a presentation meeting at his home, in the Lodève sub-prefecture, on November 29.
“It was about starting a project that provides real answers to a sensitive subject. And see how to find the first funding so that our structure can start in 2025-2026” adds Jean-Noël Chassé.

Contact: jnoc26@yahoo.fr and 06 21 80 44 20. Information on the site: lafonciereruralesolidaire.org