More than 2000 are sleeping on the road in the absence of available emergency accommodation, a number that has recorded a long rise in recent years, denounce relief organizations, which call for state intervention.
The number of children in the country increased by 6% compared to the previous year and 30% compared to 2022, according to the barometer published today by UNICEF FRANCE and the Fédération des Acteurs de la Solidarité (FAS).
‘We were sleeping in boxes’
Having arrived from Italy in France five years ago, Zayed, 11 years old, lived on the streets of Lyon (centrally) for a long time, along with his two younger sisters and their parents.
“We were sleeping in pieces of paper boxes, I was hard to sleep, I was afraid they would attack me,” the 11 -year -old describes. To go to school, he tells himself that “I couldn’t swim, I just washing my hands on fountains.”
For two months, the family has managed to find a home, staying in a house, which has been given to her through a charity agreement after the collectivity of Jamais Sans Toit has been mobilized.
Children who know the road are facing the effects of the phenomenon: “school delay”, in some cases “abandonment of the school” and a “worsening health”, explained by Juliette Mourtan, a member of the collective.
Why do homeless kids grow?
The increase in the number of homeless children is explained by many factors, according to organizations, beginning with the saturation of the temporary housing mechanism in combination with the housing crisis.
At least 400,000 minors do not have a permanent residence in the European Union and the United Kingdom and millions others live in inappropriate accommodation, according to calculations published today by the European Federation of Organizations Working with Homeless (Fédération Européenne des Associations. Feantsa).
According to UNICEF, the situation is particularly alarming in the United Kingdom, Germany and France.
Various official reports have recently stated that the French state does not fulfill its mission in relation to the housing policy of the homeless and asylum seekers.
An official report published in July pointed out that the temporary housing program in France is affected by a year of years of sub-funding.
Asked by the French News Agency, the Housing Ministry assured that the number of housing structures had stabilized in 2021 “despite the limited funding framework”.
