As the winter season approaches, housing needs increase. Invited to speak on Europe 1 Sunday, the president of the Paris Social Samu Eric Pliez points to the urgency of finding places, while more and more women and families find themselves on the street.

INTERVIEW

As the winter season approaches, housing needs increase. "We are in complete saturation, with a new phenomenon: until now we had many men and isolated people, today we welcome more women (14%) and families", worries Eric Pliez , president of the Paris social Samu. "We have to say 'no' to 1,500 people, including 1,200 families, which means we leave between 300 and 400 children every night outside."

"Every year, it's the same thing: in winter we open places, in the summer we have to close them"

The emergency number - the 115 - for all those seeking housing receives 20,000 calls per day. The social Samu can only help 1,000 people on average. "Last year, with so many places mobilized in winter, there were still 3,600 people outside," recalls Eric Pliez. "We are asking for more places and, more importantly, more permanent places, every year it's the same: in the winter we open places, in the summer we have to close them. this saturation situation. "

How to do ? "It's not enough to create places to stay," says Eric Pliez. "The first problem to solve is the rental evictions: we counted 16,000 in 2018. It's people we could have taken care of before putting them out." Problem: once hosted, we do not take people out, we pile them up in the accommodation spaces. "

The social Samu calls for consultation with the state and citizens

Second problem: once housed in an emergency, people have had trouble leaving because of lack of affordable housing. Even if these people have a job and a small income: a quarter of the people that Samu social welcomes are poor workers, who do not earn enough money for housing. "We must prevent upstream and downstream people", summarizes the president of Samu social. "We are calling for a conference that would bring together local communities, the state, associations and citizens to loosen the system."

Last point to emphasize according to Eric Pliez: the empty real estate park that remains to exploit. "We can encourage owners who have empty homes, such as second homes, or spaces, such as empty public buildings before work that will remain deserted for several years, to release these square meters," he says. "On land under construction also modular can be installed the time of construction to accommodate people."