- In recent years, anti-homeless street furniture and administrative measures preventing the poorest from sitting on the street have been booming.
- Devices reported to the Abbé-Pierre Foundation by citizens.
- The fact of making them public sometimes incites companies or town halls not to repeat.
Peaks, bars, grids, rocks, anti-begging, anti-gleaning, anti-bivouac orders… This is the arsenal of town halls, traders, condominiums and businesses to dissuade the homeless from staying at their doorstep. Devices that the Abbé-Pierre Foundation ironically denounces during the second ceremony of the "Golden Peaks", which takes place this Monday evening.
“Since 2017, citizens have posted photos of anti-homeless urban equipment on the soyonshumains.fr platform, via Twitter (#SoyonsHumains) and an email address (picsdor@fap.fr), to signify their disapproval. To date, 450 photos of devices of this type have been sent to us. The aim of this satirical operation is to show how society is trying to invisibilize the poorest by moving them away from the city centers, "says Christophe Robert, general delegate of the Abbé-Pierre Foundation.
"Planners are overflowing with innovation so that the homeless cannot stay in one place for long
In the “Fallait dare” category, the “peak” of the most uninhibited device was attributed to “Sur les rails”, located in Lyon. “It's a kind of rails on a stone bench in a condominium, to make it very uncomfortable to sit there. A very excluding device that shows how urban planners are overflowing with innovation so that homeless people cannot land for long periods of time, ”comments Christophe Robert.
"During the last ten years, we have seen anti-begging stops flourish"
In the “Neither seen nor known” category, which distinguishes the most deceitful device, it was “Arabesque”, made in Lille, which won. “It is a space in front of a building that has been meshed to prevent the homeless from settling there. But the grid is in the shape of an arabesque, which gives the impression that it is only decorative ”, describes Christophe Robert.
Difficult for the jury to determine a winner in the "Move from there" category - which concerns anti-begging orders - given the level of the contenders. In the end, the “Nice salad” (Nice) came tied with “Without hunger, nor thirst” (Calais). “Over the past ten years, we have seen anti-begging stops flowering. Especially during the holiday season, because of the Christmas markets, and summer, so that tourists are not "bothered" by the sight of the poorest, "analysis, bitter, Christophe Robert.
The prize "It's not better elsewhere", which aims to show that foreign cities can also "stand out", was awarded this year to Las Vegas. “A law prohibits homeless people from sleeping on public roads, under penalty of a fine of 1,000 dollars and 6 months of imprisonment. There is no limit, ”sighs Christophe Robert.
As for the most prominent category, entitled "The nail", rewarding the most aggressive device, the price is awarded this year to "Mushrooms of Paris", a Pôle Emploi agency storefront in front of which the posts have grown like mushrooms. "If we do not denounce this kind of street furniture, there is a risk that it will become commonplace and that it will be integrated into the specifications of architects", fears Christophe Robert.
Last year, the Golden Peaks had an effect on some of the winners: "The town hall of Paris and the BNP have withdrawn the device for which we had distinguished them," says Christophe Robert. Proof that the “ name and shame ” is dissuasive, and could be all the more so during municipal elections.
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