The years go by and look alike… As in 2020, Secours Catholique paints an apocalyptic picture of the state of poverty in France.
Admittedly, precariousness has not exploded in France under the effect of the pandemic, due to the various aid devices deployed by the government in twenty months.
But the crisis has worsened the situation of the 780,000 people met last year by the some 61,000 volunteers of the association.
And this is true whether they are close to the poverty line or without any financial resources.
To discover
Energy check: all you need to know about the aid scheme which concerns nearly 5.8 million households
Prime Macron 2021: how does it work?
Read also
One in five people live in poverty
"The safety nets have been able to freeze the situation of some, but medium or long-term effects are to be feared"
, warns Véronique Devise, the president of the association founded seventy-five years ago.
How could it be otherwise when the median standard of living of 38,800 households followed by the Catholic Relief last year does not exceed 537 euros per month, which amounts to saying that two thirds of them live below the threshold of extreme poverty?
Other sources of concern: the share of unpaid bills, for 42% linked to housing (rent, mortgage loan repayment), now concerns half of the families received and reached 777 euros, i.e. 18 euros more than in 2019. And one third of households live in unstable housing or have no fixed abode ...
Food insecurity
"The epidemic has been a real revealer of our social weaknesses
," points out the president of Secours Catholique.
A single woman with two children who ends up with 80% of her salary
(thanks to the partial activity, Editor's note),
it is certainly a real social shock absorber, but the missing 20% are sorely lacking when paying the rent or the heating bill. "
Moreover, in a specific appendix to the report dedicated to access to food, the charity notes that 3 out of 10 households that received packed lunches in 2020 suffered a loss of income, mainly related to work, and 6 out of 10 saw their expenses increase due to the closure of school canteens during the first confinement.
Read also
Despite the crisis, the explosion of poverty did not take place
As a result, 9 out of 10 households consider themselves to be food insecure, 27% of which are
“seriously insecure”
on the grounds that they do not eat for a whole day, or more, on a regular basis.
“Shopping and choosing what to eat is a luxury for a growing number of families in France
,” observes Véronique Devise.
Food has become a variable for adjusting these tight budgets, with consequences of course on social life but also on people's health. ”
