Toit à moi, the association that offers a nest and time to the homeless

Toulouse, February 5, 2013. A homeless man in a street in the city center.

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• The Toit à Moi association finances, thanks to donations from individuals and corporate sponsorship, apartments where homeless people are housed.

• In Toulouse, where it has five apartments, it has just received the sponsorship of Jean-Paul Dubois, the 2019 Goncourt Prize.

• This Monday evening, a documentary broadcast on France 3 Occitanie retraces the journey of three of its beneficiaries and their journey to get back on track.

"I was flabbergasted by the intelligence, modesty and efficiency of this system."

It was through a simple word slipped into his letterbox that Jean-Paul Dubois got to know the Toit à Moi association, which is committed to relocating people to the street and supporting them over time.

For the author of 

, Goncourt Prize 2019, this call for solidarity immediately echoed his humanist values.

Thanks to regular donations from individuals, for more than fifteen years, the association born in Nantes has been able to buy more than thirty apartments in six French cities, including Toulouse where five have already been financed.

More than 70 people helped

She has thus helped more than 70 homeless people to bounce back, like Nathalie, Michel and Serge, at the heart of Florence Mary's documentary, "The time that will be necessary", broadcast this Monday evening at 11 pm on France 3 Occitanie.

“It's smart to buy apartments over the years, it guarantees stability.

Five apartments in Toulouse, it seems ridiculous, but that says the beauty of the system, it is tailor-made, case by case, very effective.

You meet unique people there, like this gardener who taught me a lot of things.

The power of this association is to revive people like that ”, assures the writer who joined the 75 donors of the Pink City and now sponsors the association.

It's official ...

✨ The #Goncourt 𝗝𝗲𝗮𝗻-𝗣𝗮𝘂𝗹 𝗗𝘂𝗯𝗼𝗶𝘀 price becomes 𝗣𝗮𝗿𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗻 𝗱'𝗛𝗼𝗻𝗻𝗲𝘂𝗿 on #Toulouse!

✨

We are very proud and delighted with this new partnership, which promises great exchanges and great encounters.

♥

► https://t.co/Hjuu0FHfSE pic.twitter.com/Zp3WQ3qXVM

- Roof to Me (@toitamoi) October 14, 2020

Getting back on track, while giving time, is what guided Denis Castin, one of the co-founders of Toit à Moi from the start.

“We are a springboard device, so that the beneficiary can bounce back to another accommodation.

But this can take time, among the Toulouse beneficiaries, there are some who have been there for more than four years, others make shorter passages.

When we welcome someone, we don't have the recipe, we will help that person as best we can, we build with them something that makes sense ”, explains the CEO of Toit à Moi.

Beneficiary turned donor

And it works.

As for the man who left one of Toit à Moi's apartments a year ago.

“When he left, he became a sponsor of the association and gives 20 euros each month.

He had been homeless for four months with chronic health problems.

Today, he has a permanent contract, a partner and a baby born in March.

We continue to support him, but he too wanted to get involved in the association, ”explains Richard Bastien, the association's social worker.

On a daily basis, it is he who acts as the interface between the beneficiaries, the volunteers and the corporate sponsors who participate in the financing of the association.

But beyond housing or administrative management, Richard above all forges links and establishes a relationship of trust with each of the people housed.

“The big job we do is on self-esteem.

They have been victims of all types of violence, the image of themselves is degraded, for some it takes time to click, to esteem and find a place in this society that has put us aside He continues.

This reconstruction sometimes involves meetings with volunteers and patrons.

Because at Toit à Moi, the human dimension is at the heart of the system.

We are far from the mailed check or the disembodied direct debit.

Here everyone rubs shoulders, from the business owner to people straight out of the street.

And these meetings sometimes lead to jobs.

“It unites people who are not from the same backgrounds, who are not alike.

All say they want to leave no one behind, ”says Christian Saubion, owner of an SME and member of the Toulouse Patrons' Club of Toit à Moi.

Like Jean-Paul Dubois, he hopes that others will soon join the human adventure of Toit à Moi.

So many donors who will be able to participate in helping one of the 4,200 people on the street according to a census carried out by the town hall of Toulouse.

And having the joy of seeing a little girl who arrived at the age of five months in an apartment make her first start to school this year.

Toulouse

Toulouse: They buy apartments and help homeless people change their lives

Toulouse

Toulouse: A little job for wandering young people that can make the difference

Documentary

This Monday evening, France 3 Occitanie is broadcasting the documentary by Florence Mary, "Le temps que quoi".

The director followed the beneficiaries and volunteers of the Toit à Moi association for three years, from Nantes to Toulouse.

• Goncourt Prize

• Homeless

• Solidarity

• Toulouse

• Society

• Association

• Accommodation