Amélie's gift

Once upon a time, in a “corner of France where happiness flourishes” – as Luis Mariano sang – but where the price of real estate has become inaccessible to local residents, a Basque residence with blue shutters, located five minutes by ocean car.

Sailing towards her 80s, Amélie, without children, lives there alone. One day, she opens a letter from a real estate agency promising her a very large sum for the sale of the land and the house. Rather than jumping to the ceiling, this peasant girl gets angry. “We see too many scandals, young people who cannot access property. It is a terrible drama that is being played out. I don’t do politics, but we are losing our soul in the Basque Country,” Amélie later told the newspaper. South West*. Determined to act for people in need of shelter, she approached the mayor, who directed her towards a social landlord. After several months, a formula was found: the resident of Ahetze (Pyrénées-Atlantiques) gave up her property in exchange for an annuity – free life annuity formula – which would allow her to live in an apartment. “If she had sold her house and land at the current market price, she would have earned at least four times more,” the lessor admiringly assessed. In some time, in place of the house with the blue shutters, seven affordable housing units will rise, as well as a medical room. A sacred gift to demonstrate that the earth belongs to everyone.

* In its edition of January 30, 2024.