“And what about human rights?” ask the associations. The French government is being severely criticized for its plan to “export” to the “homeless” and migrants outside of Paris, ahead of the Rugby World Cup in September and the 2024 Summer Olympics.
projects send them elsewhere of France to free up the space of the hotels, which they currently occupy, and accommodate tourists there.
France has a “Social Samu” programme, which every night he picks up the homeless from the streets and takes them to hotels in case of emergency, especially in winter. At least 200,000 people are housed in these conditions and 150,000 belong to Paris and the Ile de France and the State pays.
The France-Presse news agency reported that since mid-March, the government has asked local prefects to create temporary reception centers in all French regions except the north and Corsica. This would free up space in hotels, which are normally used as emergency accommodation centers in and around Paris.
Under the plan, homeless people who voluntarily left Paris or the surrounding area would be housed for three weeks in temporary regional reception centers, paid for by the state, before being guided to accommodation in the same region that meets their needs. Clearing the cital is the priority.
concerned mayors
Housing Minister Olivier Klein told parliament this month that many hotels they did not want to serve as emergency accommodation for homeless people or asylum seekers this fall because they expected an influx of visitors during the Rugby World Cup next September and the 2024 Olympics.
Maud Gatel, a centrist MP for the MoDem party, warned that 5,000 emergency accommodation beds would be lost.
But the mayors of France’s cities are concerned about the plan and their own ability to welcome people.
“We are not against providing housing for the homeless. But we need it to be in the right conditions,” said Philippe Salmon, mayor of Bruz, a city of 18,000 near Rennes.
Salmon said his city has been asked to take in 50 people every three weeks from September until at least the end of 2024.
The mayor criticized the state of the land where the center would be located, which had been described as a vacant lot near the train tracks. “The soil is contaminated with heavy metals and fuel. For us they are not dignified conditions to house people, ”she said. Salmon wanted to know how the state would deal with any potential tension.
The mayor told radio station France Inter that local politicians had not been consulted. Yannick Morez, the mayor of Saint-Brevin-les-Pins, a coastal town in western France, resigned this month, following death threats and an arson attack on his home at an asylum-seeker center, that he authorized in his town.
The interior of France and small and medium-sized towns resist the arrival of migrants, even if they don’t bother.
The mayoress of Paris
Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo denied claims that the relocations were being rushed, stating that there was “absolutely no question of going after anyone from Paris.”
“It is not at all about persecuting anyone from Paris. None at all. No one will be forced to leave. No one will be forced to go to the other end of France,” he told The Guardian earlier this week. He added that the problem was a long-standing problem and “totally unrelated to the Olympics.”
“We want to make sure that people are housed with dignity,” he said.
“I am angry that this has been taken to the city authority because it is not our role or responsibility. We already play more than our part in finding urgent accommodation for vulnerable people. Every week we are putting families in homes,” the mayor explained to The Guardian.
He said it was a longstanding problem “totally oblivious to the Olympics” and that he had been asking the government to come up with a plan for years.
“Paris will continue to do its part, but it is up to the state to resolve this. For years I have asked the government to come up with a plan and they have not done so,” he declared.
Hidalgo said Remi Ferraud, a senator and former mayor of the 10th arrondissement in northern Paris, where many immigrants gather around the Gare du Nord, planned to introduce a bill in late June calling for a national plan to “share “The distribution of people from Paris around France.
The Parisian city council says there are 150,000 people in temporary accommodation in the Paris region, Île-de-France, and some 3,000 people, mostly single men and long-term homeless people, sleeping rough in the cital.
Host them outside of Paris
The creation of reception centers and the search for accommodation for the homeless and immigrants outside of Paris was a solution. But it had to be properly organized and needed state support for local authorities and homeless people, who voluntarily relocated to their areas.
Hidalgo said that the state’s failure to address the problem had created a “chaotic situation” which fueled the rhetoric of the extreme right.
Emmanuel Gregoire, in charge of urban planning in Paris, said: “Housing for the homeless and immigrants depends on the state. We do more than our fair share.”
And he added: “We have opened places that offer urgent accommodation for people who are especially vulnerable and who are under our responsibility, including families with small children. But we can’t do this alone And it’s not our job.”
Olivier Klein, France’s housing minister, defended the government’s position this week, citing a social emergency.
“Our goal is to reduce the number of homeless people in the Ile-de-France region so that we can provide more local support in other regions“, said.
Lack of transparency
Immigrant advocacy groups have criticized Paris for the lack of “transparency” about the plans.
“When it comes to a concrete implementation, there is not a lot of transparency,” Manuel Domergue, director of research at the Fondation Abbe Pierre, told FranceInfo. He added that he felt the relocations were taking place. “at full speed”.
“We are concerned put people on buses without informing them,” he said.
Paris, correspondent
Source: Clarin
