CIUP, by Georg Urtel (2018):

“I moved to the CIUP (http://www.ciup.fr/en/), which is an area where students and researchers live in 40 different houses. The application process was quite straight forward (http://www.ciup.fr/en/houses/applying-for-housing/). They have different types of apartments for researchers and students (not sure where PhD students fit in). As a researcher, I have my own kitchen which I would have to share otherwise. As far is I know, everybody has their own bathroom. In my house (unfortunately not Hogwarts) we have a laundry room in the basement, sheets are changed every second week and the appartement is cleaned every week. I pay ~850€. By the way, there is only wifi in the main building (the international house), so you have to use a cable to go online (which they provide). I think it is a good option to live here, especially because finding an apartment from a remote location is not an easy task, I guess.”

“It was also quite comfortable to keep in touch with them via E-mail. They had a big list of things you have to send/give them, but some of them are not really possible to provide unless you live in Paris or France. For example you can‘t show them a signed working contract, because you need housing to sign your contract. But they are aware of all those problems and said I can hand in the stuff two weeks after moving in. This is quite a large span of time, considering that it took me 2 days.”

“In Germany, when you move somewhere, you always have to go to some public authority to tell them. This is not the case here.”

Free security deposit: https://www.campusfrance.org/en/VISALE-free-security-deposit-for-students