Until a few weeks ago, David, 9 years old, slept every night in the corridors of the Gare du Nord or on a piece of sidewalk in front of the Paris City Hall, because he had not been able to find accommodation with the Samu social. . Arriving in France in 2022 from the Democratic Republic of Congo with his mother, the little boy enrolled in CM1 at the Richomme school, in the 18th arrondissement, experienced the streets for a year. “I was sad and I was afraid, because in the street you never know what could happen,” David testifies in a deep voice. I didn’t feel like the other kids. »
Since the start of the school year, David and his mother have been able to find refuge in his school, with three other families helped by the Une scolaire, un roof collective and the director of the establishment. After the end of classes, the music room is transformed into a makeshift dormitory, to allow families to sleep sheltered. Every day, David’s mother continues to call 115 to find accommodation, to no avail. “My comrades don’t know that I sleep here,” David breathes. I don’t like lying but I don’t want people to make comments to me.”
The number of children on the street increased by 42% in one month
David’s case is not isolated. According to the latest “street children” barometer from Unicef and the Federation of Solidarity Actors (FAS), 2,822 children, including nearly 700 aged 3 or under, slept outside on October 2. , after an unfilled request (DNP) to the Samu social. This is 42% more than the previous month.
These alarming figures are far from exhaustive, as the barometer does not take into account the situation of unaccompanied minors or that of families living in squats or in slums. “These are figures that have never been reached,” worries Nathalie Latour, general director of the FAS. Unlike previous years, we also observe that many single-parent families, particularly single women with children, were already on the street before calling 115. More and more families are living in street situations on a long-term basis.”
“Every day since the beginning of September, we have had around 1,000 people for whom we cannot provide a solution, including around 750 families,” lists Vanessa Benoit, general director of Samu social de Paris. In a context of a general increase in precariousness due to inflation, many families already living on the edge are falling. “Many take refuge in building lobbies, hospital or airport waiting rooms, but also in night buses and parking lots,” explains Vanessa Benoit.
Unprecedented demand, even before the start of winter
The phenomenon worries those involved in the fight against precariousness all the more since the government made a commitment in the fall of 2022 to “no longer have children on the street”. A commitment which “has not been kept in the long term”, deplores Unicef, despite the efforts made by the State to maintain the number of places in emergency accommodation at 203,000 in 2024. “Efforts have been made but this is not enough, insists Christophe Robert, general delegate of the Abbé Pierre Foundation. We need more emergency accommodation and reception places in social hotels, but above all to allow people to move out of accommodation and into sustainable housing, particularly social housing. »
Associations estimate that around 10,000 additional emergency accommodation places will be needed to cope with unprecedented demand, even before the start of winter. “We are still in a logic of thermometer accommodation, and today we are paying the repercussions of the policy carried out last summer with a whole series of place closures,” laments Nathalie Latour.
Faced with the lack of solutions for these affected families, solidarity is organized as close as possible to those concerned. In addition to the Richomme school in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, around ten establishments are busy welcoming parents and their children in the evening in Toulouse, Grenoble, Montpellier, Saint-Étienne or Lyon. In Haute-Garonne, nearly 300 school students sleep on the street in the Toulouse area, according to the Education Without Borders Network 31.
Solidarity actors are calling for a multi-year policy
“The situation is deteriorating from week to week,” warns Adèle Jouneau, from the Une école, un roof collective. Last year, we had already welcomed two families in this situation at the Richomme school, but we managed to find solutions for them, even temporary ones. This is not the case this year, it is unprecedented. »
How to stop the crisis? The associations insist on two levers: accepting a high level of accommodation places throughout the year, in order to better anticipate demands, and improving long-term support for families from accommodation to housing thanks to better coordination between state services, local authorities, associations and social landlords.
“Our message is clear: we have solutions to get out of the crisis,” says Nathalie Latour. We must commit to a multi-year policy from the street to housing and stop this short-term logic of stop-and-go, because responding to the emergency at the last minute is much more expensive. »
The FAS, which has already sent its proposals to the ministries concerned, is now closely monitoring the 2024 finance bill, and asks the government not to reconsider the amendments voted in committee by the deputies, in particular on the increase in the construction of social housing and increasing the number of accommodation places.
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