In the midst of the housing crisis, he wants to have a more precise vision of the situation. Housing Minister Olivier Klein on Tuesday set up an "Observatory of homelessness" with associations, representatives of elected officials and the State, to improve the census of homeless people in order to facilitate their care.
It appears "necessary to improve the care of homeless people and facilitate their orientation to have precise figures that also support the partnership work carried out by the State, communities and associations," said the Ministry of Housing in a statement.
This observatory brings together associations such as the Abbé Pierre Foundation, Secours catholique or the Aurore association, associations of elected officials and representatives of State services. The Minister of Housing, former mayor of Clichy-sous-Bois (Seine-Saint-Denis), asked the observatory to "publish updated figures on a regular basis" and prepare for the winter of 2023-24.
440,000 homeless people have access to housing since 2018
The homeless – people who live on the streets, tents, parks or woods, places of public transport, camps – number just under 5,000 (2,600 in Paris), according to a census carried out in 29 cities in January 2022 as part of the Solidarity Nights. In addition, 12,000 people from the EU were living in "slums" on 31 December 2022 in metropolitan France, according to figures from the Interministerial Delegation for Accommodation and Access to Housing for Homeless or Inadequately Housed People (Dihal). Figures very far from those of the Abbé Pierre Foundation. In its 2021 annual report, it estimated the number of homeless people in France nearly 300,000.
In addition, 205,000 general accommodation places (emergency accommodation, hotels ...) are open, at a total cost of 6 million euros per night, according to the Ministry of Housing. And 115,000 places were open in specific centers for asylum seekers, as of December 31, 2022, according to figures from Dihal.
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26,500 internally displaced persons from Ukraine, beneficiaries of temporary protection, occupied 8,600 state-provided dwellings, as of 31 December 2022. The Housing First plan, launched in 2017, which makes direct access to housing a priority for the reintegration of homeless people, has enabled 440,000 homeless people to access housing between 2018 and 2022, including 105,000 in 2022, according to figures from Dihal.
141,332 people who were homeless or from shelters received social housing between 2017 and 2022, including 28,042 in 2022, she adds.