The confinement due to the coronavirus pandemic has greatly slowed down economic activity in the poorest territory of metropolitan France and has eliminated the employment of thousands of already precarious people. The associations have seen requests for help explode and are anxious for the months to come.
The scene has something new on a French university campus. At the entrance to the IUT of Bobigny, within the University of Paris-13, volunteers of the Secours populaire unload three trucks of the association filled with foodstuffs. This Friday, June 26, they set up the tables in the entrance hall of the building and prepare to welcome a hundred people, most of them university students deprived of income with confinement. Before March, “There has never been a food distribution on campus. We have a large population of students of foreign origin, who can no longer afford to work,” says the resigned vice-president. from the university, Olivier Oudar.
On arrival, some already know the process and recover rice, pasta, milk, vegetables or fish in a tray before leaving, others, who come for the first time, seem to have no bearings. Sophie, 27, in a master’s degree in clinical research, is very uncomfortable. “I had a little job that allowed me to get by, but I lost it. Before the crisis, I didn’t even know there were food distributions!” She, who spent confinement in her 18 square meter Crous room, plans to stay there for the summer: “I really need to find a job,” she said.
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Sudden deterioration of the situation
The disappearance in March of “odd jobs”, temporary contracts, “moonlighting” work and short-term contracts, led hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of Seine-Saint-Denis (93), the most poor in metropolitan France, in an even more precarious situation. In a special report published shortly before confinement, INSEE already noted the persistent social difficulties of the department, with a poverty rate twice the national average (27.9% against 14.1%), 28% of young people from 18 to 24 years old without employment or training, and 11% of the total population covered by the Active Solidarity Income (RSA). Support associations for the poorest, who have been involved in the area for a long time, quickly noticed the abrupt deterioration of the situation.
Annick Tamet, deputy secretary general of Secours populaire du 93, estimates that the number of people received since March 17 at more than 45,000, compared to 29,000 a year normally. “We receive people we had never seen, temporary workers, those who supplemented their RSA with odd jobs, students, intermittent show workers … Our volunteers at Paris-8 even received a student who had not not eaten for two days, “she comments.
In a department with the highest birth rate in mainland France, which has 18% large families, the crisis has often cut the livelihoods of entire households. In Bobigny, Hadia, 18, and a student in BTS tourism, came to get a package that will help her parents and three brothers and sisters to keep the week going. “We already had financial problems, but now none of us can find a job,” she explains. In addition to food aid, people in need can obtain service vouchers made available by the prefecture, of varying value, from their associations for shopping. “It helps us a lot,” says the girl.