• According to an Ifop study for Diogenes France made public on Wednesday, 45% of French people questioned say they have encountered a problem of access to public toilets since the first confinement.

  • This shortage penalizes all citizens, but certain categories suffer even more: the homeless, children, seniors, pregnant women, the chronically ill, taxi drivers, delivery men, street vendors ...

A pressing desire and no place to relieve yourself. This is the unpleasant experience that many French people have had since the start of the coronavirus crisis. According to an Ifop study for Diogenes France made public this Wednesday, 45% of French people questioned say they have encountered a problem of access to public toilets since the first confinement. A situation due to the closure of cafes, restaurants, non-food shopping centers. But also at the closing of certain public toilets located in the streets.

“During the first confinement, their closure posed a real problem for the homeless.

Especially since the daytime reception of associations was suspended, indicates Florent Houdmon, Paca regional director of the Abbé-Pierre Foundation.

Several associations such as ours have reported the problem to the authorities, and some prefects have issued requisition orders to force the municipalities to reopen them ”.

But not all the toilets have reopened, in particular because their disinfection is more complex because of the Covid-19, and costs more.

A cost of 20,000 to 40,000 euros per year per equipment

Blame it on Covid-19, then. But the health crisis has only highlighted the chronic under-equipment of French cities in this area, as shown in the report on "The right of access to toilets in France" from the Académie de l water, published in 2020: “Our country has about 14,000 public toilets, or one for 4,610 inhabitants. And the equipment is very uneven depending on the city: if Paris has a sanitary facility for 3,000 people, in 2019 Marseille only had one for 48,000 people, ”underlines Henri Smets, the engineer author of the study. According to him, this shortage is explained by economic reasons: "The total price to build and install toilets is of the order of 20,000 to 40,000 euros per year and per piece of equipment (investment, maintenance, consumables)".

In addition, there is no legislation requiring municipalities to have minimum public sanitary facilities.

"The central power considers that this falls within the municipal domain and does not want to get involved", explains Henri Smets.

“The fact of equipping themselves with public toilets does not bring much political credit to municipalities, hence their reluctance to invest in the subject, adds Florent Houdmon.

And for some, who in parallel adopt anti-begging decrees and put in place anti-homeless street furniture, one may wonder if this is not another attempt to dissuade the homeless from staying there. ".

"Some streets are turning into wild urinals"

If this shortage of toilets penalizes all citizens, certain categories suffer even more: the homeless, as we have said, but also children, seniors, pregnant women, the chronically ill, taxi drivers, delivery men, street vendors… “Patients suffering from chronic bowel diseases often have an urgent need to go to the toilet. They calculate their movements according to the presence of WCs on their route. And the current situation is likely to lead to very humiliating accidents or to encourage them to stay at home to avoid this risk, ”says Eva Saumier, spokesperson for the Association François-Aupetit (AFA), which helps These persons.

"Some streets are transformed into wild urinals or places of defecation, which stinks entire neighborhoods", also underlines Henri Smets.

And the consequences on the morale of people forced to relieve themselves on the public highway are significant: "This affects human dignity, while running the risk for the person of being stigmatized by passers-by and of being fined", indicates Florent Houdmon.

Politicians pushed to action

Faced with this public health problem, parliamentarians had nevertheless mounted the front long before the health crisis. In 2017, a bill aimed to make compulsory the free provision of water points and public toilets for municipalities with more than 3,500 inhabitants. Adopted by the Assembly, it was finally rejected in the Senate. But for Henri Smets, it is urgent that parliamentarians or that the government look at it again: "We should first impose a minimum number of public toilets in municipalities of more than 20,000 inhabitants" he believes.

“Especially since the argument that public toilets are expensive does not hold water.

Because it is a profitable investment, as the example of Palavas-les-Flots shows.

The city has installed toilets all along the coast.

As a result, the number of visitors to its beaches has doubled, which has resulted in economic benefits, ”adds Eve Saumier.

AFA also posted a petition online in October 2020 to challenge political decision-makers on the urgent need to improve access to toilets in public spaces, which has collected more than 8,200 signatures.

A good start.

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* Ifop study for Diogenes France carried out online from April 9 to 12, 2021 with a sample of 1,010 people, representative of the French population aged 18 and over living in mainland France.

  • Covid 19

  • Coronavirus

  • Society

  • City

  • Bathroom