It is already more than 11 p.m. this Thursday evening that Louise and Lyes approach a blue tent in poor condition, placed on the Boulevard de Belleville.
Inside, a man gets up.
He is now sitting on stacked plaids, in socks, staring a little into space.
Louise looks at her questionnaire.
The man agrees to answer it.
Throughout the evening, on the occasion of the 4th edition of the Nuit de la Solidarité, teams of volunteers (nearly 2,000 people in total) roamed the streets of Paris to count the number of homeless people while a migrant camp was set up on the Place de la République.
In groups of about six people, they were busy asking them questions in order to allow the City to "readjust its policies and invent others for homeless people" explains Léa Filoche, assistant to the Paris city hall in charge of solidarity, the fight against inequalities and against exclusion.
Before leaving to explore Paris, the volunteers receive instructions and decide on a strategy to adopt so as not to cross any street.
Here, the Pyrenees gymnasium in the 20th arrondissement.
LP / Lola Dhers
Before going through a previously defined part of the arrondissement, volunteers from the 20th arrondissement meet at the Pyrenees gymnasium to receive instructions.
They are nearly 150, spread over tables, discussing the strategy to adopt to ensure not to cross any street.
The trigger of the current health crisis for volunteers
The members of group 1 introduce themselves in turn and explain why they participate in the Night of Solidarity.
There is in particular Lyes, the youngest of the municipal team of the twentieth, in charge of early childhood, youth and student life.
This is the first time he has participated in the operation.
His "click"?
"The current health context".
And "contrary to what the government had promised, there are still people on the street", he laments.
In front of Lyes, there is also Mélanie, who came with her daughter, a college student.
Since the beginning of the health crisis, the young Adélia has participated in the distribution of food and hygiene products.
Her mother explains that she is "very committed and mobilized" since the Covid-19.
Sophie, deputy director in a social reception center and who is also the team leader of the small troop this evening, takes the floor in turn to talk about tactics: what strategy to adopt to survey all the small streets of the sector of the XXth attributed to him?
After having established a plan of attack, she recalls some essential rules for the good progress of the night: "someone who sleeps, we do not wake him, someone drunk, we move away".
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After a few words from the mayor of the arrondissement Eric Pliez, former president of the Samu social de Paris, and his deputy, the volunteers are busy.
In a good-natured atmosphere where everyone asks the other questions and quickly gets on with one another, group 1 gets underway.
Direction the surroundings of Belleville park.
Sometimes complicated discussions
Around the green space, the team does not meet any homeless.
Only bicycle delivery men and a few curfew-minded onlookers are in the streets.
On the Boulevard de Belleville, on the other hand, she sees a tent.
Lyes and Louise, doctoral student in sociology, approach and introduce themselves.
Lyes and Louise, members of team 1 of the 20th arrondissement, try to get SDF to fill out a questionnaire provided by the City of Paris.
LP / Lola Dhers
The man does not speak French well and the dialogue is complicated.
He comes from Sudan, explains with difficulty that he went through several associations that help the most vulnerable but that his bag was stolen with his identity card.
The two members of the group have trouble getting him to answer the questionnaire (“is this where you sleep most often?” “When was the last time you were accommodated?”).
Lyes finally begins a tedious dialogue with the man in English then greets him: "Take care".
It is almost half past midnight and the volunteers are back to their starting point.
In total, they counted five people who had nowhere to sleep in their area, including two who were already asleep and therefore did not wake up.
When it comes time to say goodbye, they say they are delighted with the experience.
And finally, it's good if they haven't met that many people.
