Council officials in Dudelange are urgently searching for a new home for more than a dozen people who were forced to leave furnished rooms in December, when the area’s mayor took the rare step of issuing a closure order for the property due to hygiene and safety breaches.
It was the first time in over a decade that the authorities in Dudelange had issued such a notice, with one councillor describing the property as “one of the worst apartments” he had ever seen in two decades at the municipality. Rats had entered and bitten both adults and children, according to Tamara Cozzi, a social worker and head of the housing service for Dudelange.
At the beginning of December, LSAP mayor Dan Biancalana ordered the closure of the three-floor property with furnished rooms. According to the closure order, seen by the Luxemburger Wort, the conditions in the rented rooms were untenable.
Concerns about the property date back several years. In 2021, the city noticed that several unrelated individuals were registered at the same address and that various people did not live on the floors listed. Due to a lack of rooms, some shared spaces where they spent time or slept. Curtains provided a modicum of privacy, as confirmed during an on-site visit by city officials.
The minimum requirements for furnished rooms regarding safety, hygiene, and habitability are laid down in a 2019 law. The mayor is responsible for monitoring furnished rooms and can issue an order to close them if they do not comply with the regulations.
Back in 2021, the owners of the property were informed of the legislation and the need to make improvements. Since then, the city officials made several unsuccessful attempts to persuade the owners to take action, but the situation worsened.
‘Catastrophe’ possible in the event of a fire
In April 2024, city services discovered unsanitary conditions in the first-floor apartment and found that it had been overcrowded for two years.
Specifically, a couple and their nine children were found to be sharing “two small rooms, a multifunctional main room, and a bathroom of approximately two square meters,” according to a report by the city’s hygiene commission following the inspection. “The available space is clearly insufficient with regard to legal requirements,” the council report said, a reference to the legally required nine square meters of living space per person.
Furthermore, there were problems with rodents entering through the kitchen, necessitating immediate rat control, and serious safety breaches. The closure order lists the following issues regarding the condition of the first-floor apartment, where the family of 11 lived, as of April 2024:
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Defective and dangerous electrical installations, specifically: broken sockets with exposed cables;
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Insufficient ceiling height in the main room;
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Dampness and severe mold growth in kitchen and bathroom;
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Outdated furniture and makeshift furnishings, including a kitchen in very poor condition;
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Broken window, hastily repaired;
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Faulty sink drain, which flows into a bucket;
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Faulty radiator thermostat.
The hygiene commission concluded that the accommodation was unsuitable for residential purposes and that the conditions could lead to a “veritable catastrophe” in the event of a fire.
No electricity or hot water
This was followed in September 2025 by a visit from the CGDIS, Service Logement and the police, at which the owner and his lawyer were also present. It was discovered that there was no electricity or hot water in the flats on the first and second floors. Several rooms on the second floor had no windows.
A report relating to the visit in September states that four people were officially registered as residents, while in reality 18 people were living there without official registration, including a total of eleven underage children in the house.
Cozzi of the city of Dudelange frequently encounters families living in poor conditions. However, the situations she normally deals with are usually less dramatic than in this case, which Cozzi described to the Luxemburger Wort as “very, very bad”.
“There were rats that bit children and adults,” she said. The residents had tried to seal all the entry points, but the rats still managed to get into the apartments. “Even the health inspectors present during an inspection had rarely seen such a bad case.”
Tamara Cozzi, head of the council’s housing service, said her team rarely encounters such extreme cases © Photo credit: Christophe Olinger
The apartment was also cold because the heating wasn’t working, and Cozzi happened to stop by the home of the family of 11. They were all wearing coats in their new place, even though it was warm inside. The social worker surmised that this was probably out of habit.
Owners to be billed up to €15,000
Relocating 18 people was a challenge, according to Cozzi. Although a hotel offered a favorable deal, and its owner was willing to help, Cozzi decided against it. She feared “emotional damage if these children were taken to a chic, comparatively luxurious hotel for a few weeks or months.” After all, they had been living in miserable conditions for an extended period and Cozzi argued it would have been a shock for them to arrive at a nice hotel and then have to leave again.
The family of eleven was instead moved into two adjacent apartments, emergency accommodations provided by the social services department. “Not as a long-term solution, only temporary,” Cozzi said. The second family from the upper floor, with three children, found a private apartment in the French border region. Two single men, living alone on the ground floor, were taken by the city council officials to a hotel, where there are allowed to stay for up to three months.
“The costs for the relocation and alternative accommodation will be billed to the owner in full and amount to €5,000 per month,” Cozzi said, a sum which includes both the emergency accommodation for the family and the hotel price.
Searching for a long-term solution
According to Cozzi, one problem for municipalities is that a grand-ducal decree on the Affordable Housing Act stipulates that every child over the age of twelve must have their own room. “How is that supposed to work for large families?” Cozzi said, adding: “The law obliges owners to cover the costs of the three-month relocation, but the real challenge comes afterward: How can we guarantee these people stable and permanent housing?”
Finding accommodation for the large family – all of whom are over the age of 12 – where they can each have their own room is difficult. The social housing scheme (Gestion Locative Sociale, GLS) , which is exempt from the restrictive age regulations, could be a solution.
The GLS scheme, which was first launched in 2009, aims to help people in emergency situations find affordable rental accommodation. It matches owners of vacant properties with one of 39 organisations such as the Luxembourg Red Cross or social welfare agencies, who in turn arrange tenants for the landlords.
If a private owner of a large, vacant apartment were to make it available in cooperation with the Dudelange social services office, the family could find a home there. The rent for a GLS apartment is significantly below market price, but there are also advantages, Cozzi stressed, adding that potential applicants will benefit from a guaranteed rent is largely tax-exempt. If the owner needs the property, they can quickly reclaim it, and the social services office will arrange alternative accommodation for the residents.
Tamara Cozzi and her team at Dudelange council have so far only found a temporary solution for the family of 11 forced to leave the rental property. Permanent accommodation will be needed in less than two months. © Photo credit: Christophe Olinger
However, time is running out for Cozzi and her team. “We have to find alternative accommodation by 17 March,” she said. After the three-month period passes, the owner of the property will no longer be responsible for paying any oustanding costs.
“That is why the mayor only orders a closure in extreme cases, because otherwise we don’t know where to put the people,” said Cozzi, with the last previous closure dating back to 2013.
Particularly extreme case
“In the more than 20 years that I have been an alderman for social affairs, this is one of the worst apartments I have ever seen,” said LSAP councillor René Manderscheid, who has been a member of the board of aldermen since 2004.
Back then, he saw many classic ‘café rooms’ in Dudelange, which he described as “rough.” These are less common today. “It used to be quite rare to find furnished rooms offered in private family homes,” he told the Luxemburger Wort.
LSAP councillor René Manderscheid, alderman for social affairs, sees the city council’s room for manoeuvre as limited. © Photo credit: Marc Wilwert
Manderscheid sees the city administration’s scope for action as limited, as it can only order that the rooms be vacated and not re-let. “If the owner then lets the building fall into disrepair, that’s just how it is,” said Manderscheid. “There’s nothing the city can do about it.” However, he added that this isn’t currently a problem: “We have the situation under control.”
Most property owners do respond to the city’s warnings and take them seriously, Manderscheid added. If apartments are not up to standard, they make sure to renovate them.
For Cozzi, the episode “strikingly illustrates the housing crisis in Luxembourg.”
“In an economically prosperous country, exorbitant rents and a lack of suitable housing make access to decent living space difficult and, for some, even impossible,” she said, noting that in contrast, there are people who “profit at the expense of those who have nothing.”
(This article was originally published by the Luxemburger Wort. Machine translated using AI, with editing and adaption by John Monaghan.)
