Who are the homeless and why do some of them refuse accommodation offers, however more numerous than ever during this health crisis? The second edition of the field survey conducted by the Federation of Solidarity Actors (FAS) and the National Federation of Social SAMUs (FMSS), after that of January 2020, just before the crisis, published on Friday 14 May, responds , among others, to these questions. To collect information as close as possible to where these “invisible” people live, 71 mobile marauding teams, in 39 departments, interviewed 755 homeless people, all of whom met on the night of January 12 to 13, 2021.
At 80%, these are single men, a proportion ten points higher than in 2020, therefore, in proportion, fewer women, children and families thanks to the exceptional effort of the State to , during the state of health emergency in effect until May 30, host as many people as possible.
“In the Oise, the 115 now finds a solution to all requests from women, children and families, which have priority, explains Steven Duval, director of Samusocial de l’Oise. The men alone come after. They are, for the most part, newcomers or unsuccessful asylum-seekers, or even already subject to the obligation to leave the territory, or even severely excluded for whom we do not have a suitable accommodation solution. “” In Lyon, the situation remains tense but, thanks to the 1,500 additional places we have benefited from, many fewer people sleep in the street., testifies Maud Bigot, Samusocial of the metropolis. On the other hand, for those who are still outside, the waiting times for a place in accommodation go on forever. “
“The big excluded have been abandoned”
The survey reveals that the wandering time of the people encountered is getting longer, by more than three years for 54% of them, or 16 points more than in 2020, as if the hard core of the excluded not absorbed. “Many of them refuse to go to structures with binding regulations, strict schedules and numerous prohibitions, such as coming with an animal or drinking alcohol, although confinement has brought some flexibility on this last point by opening ad hoc spaces ”, explains Sandrine Elie, head of department of the Trait d’union association which manages the Samusocial du Calvados.
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