• The city inaugurated a health hygiene point with 8 showers and toilets, two of which are reserved for women and people with reduced mobility.

  • This premises is intended to be the first stone of a territorial network of service and assistance to the most deprived.

  • More than a quarter of the city's population lives below the poverty line, and 12,000 people are homeless.

The former municipal garage on rue Berton, in the 4th arrondissement of Marseille, not far from the Timone hospital, has given way to a hygiene and health point. Open every morning from Monday to Friday, eight municipal showers here took over from the three made available at the Ruffi gymnasium since the start of the health crisis. "The gymnasium had to return to schoolchildren and we did not want to have a break in the device," suggests Audrey Garino, assistant for social affairs and solidarity. However, this room, fitted out in modular buildings to avoid site clean-up, is itself temporary. In its final version, the hygiene and health point will be located nearby, in the neighboring 5th arrondissement and should open in the first half of 2023. One million euros, including 700.000 euros supported by the State, have been budgeted.

Badly housed families, precarious workers, the place does not only welcome the homeless

That said, the municipality is "from extremely far," knows the deputy, considering the nearly 12,000 homeless in the city. Usually, between 50 and 80 people use these showers - two of which are reserved for women or people with reduced mobility - and toilets every day, even if their new location has somewhat reduced the number of users since their opening. August 31. A new location which has also raised concerns in the neighborhood. "Poverty can be scary," includes Didier Jau, the mayor of the area who went to neighborhood meetings to defuse this anxiety. “This place is not a problem but a solution. I am proud to see this equipment, ”he continues. And contrary to popular belief,this place does not welcome so many homeless people as poorly housed families or precarious workers who sometimes live in their cars. "The people who come here are rarely the ones you see in the street," says Audrey Garino.

"A real moment of calm and relaxation for them"

Kathy and Haïcha, are the two municipal employees in charge of reception.

“It's a real moment of calm and relaxation for them [the users],” says Haïcha.

The municipality provides everything needed - disposable towel, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, cream, periodic protection… - and can even provide clean clothes.

"A first stone", according to Audrey Garino, in the policy of assistance to the most deprived initiated by this happy municipality all the same to recover a municipal service of social samu, unique situation in France, composed of 60 agents.

It is by relying on this one and the network of associations that it intends to manage to mesh a territory as large as two and a half times Paris where more than a quarter of the population is in a situation of poverty, according to INSEE. .

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  • Homeless

  • Marseilles

  • Solidarity

  • Society