Is there a lack of accommodation places for the homeless? Prefecture and associations are opposed

• A group of associations is asking for more emergency accommodation places for the homeless in an open letter addressed to the prefect.
• The prefecture ensures that the device, which has already been increased, is sufficient to meet the needs.
• The associations’ petition collected nearly 28,000 signatures on Monday.

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“If we remove the places for Covid cases and the places reserved for a specific public [femmes battues, sorties d’hôpital psychiatrique, etc.], the places several tens of kilometers away from the metropolis [Le Teich, Lesparre, Arcachon], there are no more places left in Bordeaux metropolis for welcoming public to the street, ”said in a press release about fifteen associations working in the social and solidarity sectors in Bordeaux.

In an open letter sent Friday to the prefect of Gironde, they ask for the opening of additional accommodation places in the Bordeaux metropolis. The petition they started has already collected nearly 28,000 signatures.

Different diagnoses

“The reception area [pour les SDF] organized by Les maraudes du cœur and Les gratuit bordelais must be temporary, explains Rachid, from the collective La Piraterie, which helps isolated women with children. I wanted us to raise a collective cry of alarm because we should not forget that the goal must be to eradicate poverty. Shelter must be organized and not only when the temperatures drop. “For its part, the Gironde prefecture maintains that the reception system is not saturated. In the night from Saturday to Sunday, for example, it reports an occupancy rate of 93%. The number of accommodation places is 4,200 places in Gironde, including 1,800 emergency reception places.

According to the prefecture, the Samu social identifies very few people in the street at night, in Bordeaux. She specifies that some of them refuse the proposed assistance. “For several years, the Bordeaux 115 has responded cordially but always negatively to the various requests for shelter. People who have found the only response to the support of associations ”, write the associations.

“There is an exclusion of people who have dogs, but we cannot separate them from their only fellow traveler,” observes Rachid. And for homeless people who have been on the streets for a long time, there should be a special device ”.

In Gironde, the State has increased the number of accommodation places by 40% over the last three years, by perpetuating places temporarily released for the winter plan. An effort considered considerable. The prefecture also emphasizes that its system is adaptable, places in hotels can be found or rooms (gymnasiums, multipurpose rooms, etc.) open.

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