In Seine-Saint-Denis, the Covid-19 has increased the plight of the most vulnerable

The scene has something new on a French university campus. At the entrance to the IUT of Bobigny, within the University of Paris-13, volunteers of the Secours populaire unload three trucks of the association filled with foodstuffs. This Friday, June 26, they set up the tables in the entrance hall of the building and prepare to welcome a hundred people, most of them university students deprived of income with confinement. Before March, "There has never been a food distribution on campus. We have a large population of students of foreign origin, who can no longer afford to work," says the resigned vice-president. from the university, Olivier Oudar.

On arrival, some already know the process and recover rice, pasta, milk, vegetables or fish in a tray before leaving, others, who come for the first time, seem to have no bearings. Sophie, 27, in a master's degree in clinical research, is very uncomfortable. "I had a little job that allowed me to get by, but I lost it. Before the crisis, I didn't even know there were food distributions!" She, who spent confinement in her 18 square meter Crous room, plans to stay there for the summer: "I really need to find a job," she said.

>> Read: Covid-19: La Courneuve asks for an exemption from rent for the poorest 

Sudden deterioration of the situation

The disappearance in March of "odd jobs", temporary contracts, "moonlighting" work and short-term contracts, led hundreds of thousands of inhabitants of Seine-Saint-Denis (93), the most poor in metropolitan France, in an even more precarious situation. In a special report published shortly before confinement, INSEE already noted the persistent social difficulties of the department, with a poverty rate twice the national average (27.9% against 14.1%), 28% of young people from 18 to 24 years old without employment or training, and 11% of the total population covered by the Active Solidarity Income (RSA). Support associations for the poorest, who have been involved in the area for a long time, quickly noticed the abrupt deterioration of the situation.

Annick Tamet, deputy secretary general of Secours populaire du 93, estimates that the number of people received since March 17 at more than 45,000, compared to 29,000 a year normally. "We receive people we had never seen, temporary workers, those who supplemented their RSA with odd jobs, students, intermittent show workers ... Our volunteers at Paris-8 even received a student who had not not eaten for two days, "she comments. 

In a department with the highest birth rate in mainland France, which has 18% large families, the crisis has often cut the livelihoods of entire households. In Bobigny, Hadia, 18, and a student in BTS tourism, came to get a package that will help her parents and three brothers and sisters to keep the week going. "We already had financial problems, but now none of us can find a job," she explains. In addition to food aid, people in need can obtain service vouchers made available by the prefecture, of varying value, from their associations for shopping. "It helps us a lot," says the girl.

>> See the webdoc : Seine-Saint-Denis: the forgotten of the Republic 

Fear and pessimism

In an open letter to Emmanuel Macron published in Le Journal du dimanche on June 21, the communist mayor of La Courneuve, Gilles Poux, and some forty personalities called for "six emergency measures for Seine-Saint-Denis and the territories hardest hit by the Covid-19 ". According to INSEE, the department recorded, between March 1 and April 10, an excess mortality of 118.4%, the highest rate in Île-de-France. In particular, "promiscuity, precariousness, overcrowded housing, the high prevalence of comorbidity factors, but also the state of public health infrastructure in 93, a medical desert for city medicine", lists the PCF deputy from Seine-Saint-Denis Stéphane Peu, signatory of the letter and present at the food distribution at the IUT of Bobigny. Not very optimistic for the situation of students at Paris-13 and Paris-8 as summer vacation approaches, he recalls the proposal to create a "student income" made by Communist deputies in March at the National Assembly . "This year, there will be no or few extra jobs, it will not resume. We should expect very great precariousness among the students."

>> See the Focus : Mutual aid, inequalities, mistrust… The multiple faces of the suburbs at the time of confinement 

Subsidies, donations from individuals, extra help from restaurants, dishes prepared by the school kitchens of the department have enabled associations to respond to needs. "Solidarity has worked well so far, and we think we can hold out until September, but at the cost of cash outflows, which is a first to my knowledge", deplores Annick Tamet, of Secours populaire, pessimistic about an improvement in the situation in the coming months.

This fear, the manager of the Drancy center of the Restaurants du Coeur, Patrick Chaillet, shares it. "I'm really afraid of another confinement. But even if it improves, some families have been so weakened that it will take them months to leave," he said. In the building provided by the town hall for the distribution of food parcels, adapted to allow maximum distance between people, its teams provided 57,000 meals in 10 weeks, compared to 63,000 in the 16 weeks of the summer campaign of 2019. "Next week, we will have already exceeded this figure. Coluche [creator of Restaurants du Coeur in 1985] must turn around in his grave!" The association's stocks in Villepinte are sufficiently well supplied to meet the needs of people this summer, but "it's going to be harder and harder, reports the managing director of Restos 93, Jean-Claude Eberhardt. We had a request growing before the crisis, and we'll have even more afterwards. "

The France 24 week summary invites you to come back to the news that marked the week

Take international news everywhere with you! Download the France 24 app