Landes: Nomad' supports seasonal workers in their search for accommodation

Housing seasonal workers is a key issue. The Côte Landes Nature community of communes has decided to take matters into its own hands with its Nomad' program, which supports young people in their search for accommodation.

"Finding affordable housing is a real challenge." Emmanuelle Garcin is head of the Nomad' platform, an organization launched in 2009 by the Côte Landes Nature community of communes. The goal? To meet the needs of seasonal workers, who are very present in the area in the summer. "We have 6,000 seasonal workers working in these three inter-municipal communities. 60% live in the area. We need to be able to house the remaining 40%."

And this is no small feat. To address this, elected officials have called for the creation of a system to help them. Tourism is a central economic issue in these communities, and seasonal workers are one of its keystones. "Our mission is twofold: to identify shared accommodation and connect employers and landlords, or landlords and employees. The idea is to find accommodation as close as possible to the workplace."

But one difficulty remains. Some owners are reluctant to rent to seasonal workers rather than tourists. "Today, we recommend a room at 300 euros per month, including charges. It's certainly not much. The point is to convince them to rent to young seasonal workers. Everyone contributes to the effort to accommodate everyone, because we need this workforce," explains Emmanuelle Garcin.

Last year, nearly 300 applications arrived on their desks. "We submitted 130. This year, the trend is the same. But we still have a housing shortage, even though some employers have implemented their own accommodation strategies."

To meet this demand, some regions have developed their own solutions. Biscarrosse has a project for a seasonal workers' center. In Mimizan, the construction of around twenty housing units reserved for them is under consideration. Saint-Julien-en-Born also plans to launch its own seasonal workers' center by 2027 or 2028. "We're working with elected officials to develop projects, with councilors, to see what would be the most suitable."