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This paper proposes to look at a fraction of the “modern-day working class” (Collovald, Schwartz, 2006) through a specific form of housing – run-down co-owned property. This type of housing brings together a relatively homogenous population that share not only like sociological characteristics but also close or similar experiences. The analysis of the residential itineraries of tenants in three run-down co-owned properties in Marseilles during the 1950s shows how living in these conditions provides a rare opportunity for certain fractions of the working class to gain access to housing which remains nevertheless for them very constraining and precarious. This article thus shows how even run-down co-owned properties built after the Second World War can become a stepping stone towards an upward residential itinerary.