It can never be said enough, houses threatening to collapse represent a major constraint for Greater Casablanca. The collapses that occurred recently in the old Medina have once again drawn attention to this problem. Following these events, some elected officials called on the president of the city council to hold an extraordinary session in order to find a solution to this problem. On the agenda, the councillors in question propose to set up an agency to save the old urban fabric within Greater Casablanca, particularly at the level of Mers Sultan-El Fida and the old Medina, the two black spots of the metropolis. "We would like to present this subject before all the members of the city council in the presence of all the stakeholders: the Ministry of Housing, Urban Planning and Urban Policy, the Urban Agency, the Ministry of Economy and Finance... because the city of Casablanca does not have the means to deal with this problem without the support of the State", explains Saïd Housbane, representative of the Popular Movement. This elected official who plans the extraordinary session at the beginning of July proposes to constitute a semi-public company such as Idmaj Sakan in order to treat the problem of houses threatening to collapse in its entirety. This solution would allow, according to him, to have a single interlocutor and facilitate the rehousing procedure. The elected officials also insist on the importance of entrusting this file to a specialised engineering firm in order to have expertise in due form. Indeed, the problem of housing threatening to collapse is complex. Professionals are confronted with the absence of an exact pre-inventory, both quantitative and qualitative, of the situation. This problem requires a partnership approach and intervention, involving different actors within the framework of studies focusing on urban renewal and the upgrading of all the components of the region. According to Kamal Dissaoui, president of the Sidi Belyout commune: "We must create an urban renewal agency for Greater Casablanca to deal with this situation. Currently, 1,500 households residing in houses threatening to collapse are waiting for an urgent solution. If we use the resources from the cement tax in addition to the money from the Housing Solidarity Fund (FSH), we could rehouse them tomorrow", he stressed during a meeting on city policy organised on Thursday, June 21. For Mustapha Lhaya, elected to the city council, it is inadmissible to give priority to people who have come from other cities and rural areas because their slums alter the image of the city and leave native Casablancans under the threat of collapses: "We should grant

1/5th of the budget reserved for the slum clearance programme to the renovation of housing threatening to collapse. Casablanca has dedicated 10 million dirhams to this component, but this budget remains insufficient compared to the reality".

It must be said that housing threatening to collapse represents an important component of the urban landscape of the Greater Casablanca region. The latter records, according to 2004 statistics, 50% of the old buildings in Morocco. At the level of the Mers Sultan-El Fida prefecture of districts, 65% of the city's dilapidated houses are recorded. We still find people who rent dilapidated housing for 20 DH per month. According to Said Housbane, 1,246 houses at the level of this prefecture are at risk of collapsing. According to the Regional Inspection of Housing, Urban Planning and Spatial Planning of Greater Casablanca, 70,000 Casablanca households live in dilapidated housing (HV) and housing threatening to collapse (HMR), of which 93% are located in the Casa-Anfa and Mers Sultan-El Fida prefectures of districts. By ignoring the old buildings that risk collapsing at any moment, we are only dealing with one side of unsanitary housing. We must not only proceed with the census of these constructions, but also rehouse the inhabitants", affirms Said Housbane. Nevertheless, without intervention from the State and private partners, this situation can still last at the risk of seeing other people lose their lives there.

Elected officials from Casablanca are calling for a census of the city's assets and a revision of lease contracts in order to have a precise idea of this type of revenue. A revision of the specifications managing the derogations for the benefit of real estate developers is also necessary. The city councillors would like to reorganise the management of Casablanca's properties. For them, these assets can generate significant financial resources or at least serve for the rehousing of disaster victims.

However, this mission is proving quite difficult for the moment. Especially since no response has been given to them on this subject.