One in five young people live below the poverty line. The Covid-19 crisis is pushing down the most vulnerable. In order to help them, the metropolis of Lyon will set up its “youth solidarity income” intended for 18-24 year olds in a precarious situation who do not benefit from other aid.
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For this, the Metropolis will release ten million euros and target 2,000 young people. “There are a lot of holes in the racket, affirms the EELV president of the Métropole Bruno Bernard. This can concern homeless people, scholarship students who have finished their course, who are looking for a job and who no longer have any help, but also people who cannot qualify for the youth guarantee or who come out in check. This device is to help for a few months and put them back into existing devices which do not cover all the fields today. “
On June 1, young people without resources in the metropolis of Lyon will be able to receive up to 400 euros per month for two years, except beneficiaries of the RSA, the youth guarantee and scholarship students. Marvin meets the criteria, Jessy is not eligible, but they both agree. “We must not take it as money to support ourselves, we must take it as a help, assure Marvin. It’s something that allows you to relax your mind a little, to be able to think more calmly at work, because when you really have zero, you tend to think only of money. We go out in the morning, we wake up, we don’t go looking for work because we need money to eat, to buy our cigarettes, for anything. “
“When you have zero, it’s very complicated. It’s a big boost.”
Marvin, RSJ eligible
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For Jessy, “it’s been a year now that it really became difficult”. According to him, “Being able to benefit from aids like this is something that must be exploited to the maximum for all young people. We really must not leave this solution aside.”
Sarah Klinkenberg measures the effects of the crisis every day in the accommodation centers she runs. “Three quarters of young people have no qualifications, she explains, they have odd jobs in catering, childcare and 50% of them lost their jobs during the crisis. These are jobs today that have not reopened. Childcare, people no longer go out because of the confinement, the restaurants are closed … all these odd delivery jobs, there are no more, so we have a lot of young people who have no money. jobs and not doing well. “ If we do not support the beneficiaries, say the professionals, this help will be ineffective.
The Métropole de Lyon launches the Revenu de Solidarité Jeunes (RSJ) – Report by Christophe Vincent
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