The observation is unequivocal.
3,492 homeless people were counted in Paris on the night of January 25 to 26, 2024, during the 7th edition of Solidarity Night.
355 teams were deployed in Paris for the occasion, i.e. more than 2,000 volunteers and around fifty associations.
This figure revealed on Monday marks an increase of more than 16% (plus 477 people) compared to the previous edition of January 26, 2023. “After a drop in the number of homeless people counted during the health crisis due to “an increase in the number of accommodation places, their number has been increasing since 2023”, contextualizes the municipality in its press release.
Of these nearly 4,000 people sleeping on the street, 12% of those counted, or around 419 people, are women.
The municipality also notes that these individuals without housing solutions are unevenly distributed across the Parisian territory.
According to the report, three quarters of these homeless people are mainly concentrated in the center and east of the capital.
Stations, camps, woods and gardens…
In detail, in the center of Paris, the number of homeless people jumped from 386 to 659 people.
In the 12th century, it also increased significantly, going from 274 to 457, while in the 19th century it decreased slightly (380 instead of 400).
Of these 3,492 people, three quarters were met by volunteers in the streets of Paris.
“This number and the proportion of people encountered on the street increase compared to the January 2023 edition, due to the presence of numerous groups along the banks of the Seine in particular,” specifies the City.
The other quarter was located in specific sectors such as family camps, the embankments of the ring road, parks, gardens and woods or even train and metro and RER stations.
3,492 homeless people were counted in Paris during Solidarity Night, an increase of 16% compared to last year.
This is a clear alarm signal which must wake up the government to put the question of accommodation back at the heart of its priorities.
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— Léa Filoche (@leafiloche) February 5, 2024
Figures which did not fail to make elected officials react.
“This is a clear alarm signal which must wake up the government to put the question of accommodation back at the heart of the priorities”, tackled solidarity assistant Léa Filoche on her X account (ex-Twitter).
Launched in 2018 in Paris by socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo, Solidarity Night is gradually becoming established throughout France.
The Senate adopted a bill on January 24 which requires all municipalities to “collect and transmit annually (…) data relating to the number of homeless people on its territory”.