Video - Ayrix - Opening of Espace Meliz and Tweet

Genevieve Dariussek, Minister Delegate to the Minister of Solidarity, Autonomy and Disabled, responsible for people with disabilities, went to Hautes-Pyrénées on Friday, November 25, to inaugurate inclusive housing in Azereix and visit a senior agricultural professional. School in Vic-en-Bigorre. The Minister Plenipotentiary in charge of Persons with Disabilities inaugurated “Meliz Homes”, an adaptive and shared housing project, linked to a cultural and joyful living space. This structure received the award from the National Union of Associations of Parents of Disabled Children (UNAPEI).

In 2017, Adapei des Hautes-Pyrénées wanted to introduce a new method of housing for people with disabilities. Housing best suited to their needs and openness to the ‘ordinary world’. This is how “Les Maisons de Mélise”, consisting of 17 individual dwellings with private gardens, integrates people with disabilities into everyday life in the village.
Quickly, Adapei wanted to expand his business and move forward, by allowing tenants to take part in the organization of social life. Espace Mélise is the third center offering a tea room, library and wellness center open to all, tenants, families, friends and residents of the village and surrounding area. The result of co-construction between people with disabilities (tenants or people supported by Adapei) and local stakeholders, Espace Mélise allows everyone to participate in city life and be represented.

On one side open to the street and on the other to the inclusive housing of the Maisons de Mélise where people with disabilities live, Espace Mélise offers a tea room that hosts art exhibitions, games, creative workshops, concerts and a digital space for online public access services. But also a wellness center dedicated to hairdressing, aesthetics, physiotherapy, strology and sports activities.
These services make it possible to create social diversity and intergenerational encounters between village school children and their young parents, older residents and tenants with disabilities.