They are already experiencing difficult ends of the month but with the health crisis, some are no longer able to do so: the government announced this Thursday the unprecedented release of an envelope of 39 million euros for food aid for the poorest households .
These 39 million "will come to support associations and respond urgently to suffering territories," said Christelle Dubos, secretary of state for the fight against poverty, during a press conference.
Maintaining food aid is not an option in the face of the # COVID19 crisis.
The @gouvernementFR announces today a support plan for food aid of 39 million €.
This plan is in addition to the remarkable action carried out by @J_Denormandie for homeless people. pic.twitter.com/NvyJRjoo2W
Sudden transitions from precariousness to poverty
This amount, which is equivalent to a third of the annual budget usually allocated by the State to associations as food aid, comes in addition to the 65 million already released since the beginning of confinement, for aid to the homeless.
Since March 17, 10,600 homeless people have been accommodated in social hotels. "We have thus been able to mobilize 20,000 more places since the start of confinement", welcomed this Thursday the Minister of Housing Julien Denormandie, during the press conference.
#COVID ー 19
🏨 More than 10,600 additional hotel places now mobilized for the homeless and 92 specialized accommodation sites for Covid patients open in France.https: //t.co/tLeDbaQgwP pic.twitter. com / JmyRF9O2aJ
But the health crisis and confinement have also put low-income households in difficulty, sometimes throwing them suddenly from insecurity to poverty. Visible sign of this social crisis, the queues in front of food distribution points, which have been getting longer for several weeks.
Associations taken aback
Closed at the start of confinement, certain points were reopened as best they could by associations, themselves in difficulty. Most of them had to suspend part of their activities, for lack of arms or lack of money, in time of confinement.
Precarious workers, undeclared employees or even temporary workers, many of them come for the first time to swell the ranks at the gates of associations, caught short.
A first tranche of 25 million of the envelope announced this Thursday will be distributed to associations to finance purchases of food, "centralized by the state and on behalf of associations", as well as direct purchases, said Christelle Dubos.
"Not sure it will be enough"
Protective equipment, storage costs, exceptional transport: for food banks which help 2 million precarious people each year, these measures will also make it possible to "cope with the additional costs generated by the health crisis", they explain on Thursday. in a press release.
But "food aid is becoming a national problem and it is not sure that it will be enough," warns Florent Gueguen, director general of the Federation of Solidarity Actors (800 associations fighting against poverty).
At the same time, 14 million euros will be distributed in the form of “emergency food vouchers” in troubled areas in mainland France and overseas. Entrusted to the prefectures, these service vouchers will be distributed by the Communal Social Action Centers (CCAS), for an equivalent of 105 euros per identified household. "As of tomorrow, the territories concerned will receive these first emergency food checks," assured Christelle Dubos.
"Not a miracle cure"
In Seine-Saint-Denis, one of the poorest French departments, emergency food aid will represent 2.6 million euros and will benefit 25,000 households. A total of 2.9 million checks will be distributed. They will be usable in supermarkets and will allow the purchase of basic necessities. For the Overseas Territories, four million will be distributed in the form of emergency food vouchers in Mayotte, or food distribution in Guyana and Saint-Martin.
"It is not the miracle cure either," said Véronique Fayet, president of Secours Catholique. The association notes in particular difficulties for the beneficiaries of these service vouchers, to use them in certain stores. "Some refuse them, others take only a limited number or do not give change," she said.
For Manuel Domergue, of the Abbé Pierre Foundation, "this is a new imperfect emergency measure". Warning against another problem probably to come, that of the difficulties for some to pay their rent during this crisis, he called on the authorities "to be more anticipatory". "These emergency means which are added to each other just show that the social minima are insufficient to live on," says Véronique Fayet.
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- Poverty
- Society
- Solidarity
- Precarite
- Food aid