More than ever overwhelmed at the start of winter, those responsible for 115 are warning of the "desperate" lack of emergency accommodation places.
"We have progress to make on the 115, both materially, so that there are more better answers, more listeners. But also no doubt other devices and that is a major project for the 'year 2023,' said the Prime Minister after speaking with five young women hosted in a Red Cross emergency accommodation center in Paris.
The head of government also confirmed the renewal of the "Housing first" program for the homeless, the terms of which are still under discussion.
This system launched in 2017, accompanied by an envelope of 44 million euros, has enabled some 400,000 homeless people to access housing, said the Prime Minister, who was accompanied by Olivier Klein, Minister Delegate for City and Housing, and by Isabelle Rome, Minister Delegate for Equality.
In addition to emergency accommodation, which is "a right", Ms Borne stressed the need to "streamline pathways to find more stable lasting solutions" and wished to "develop places in family pensions, social residences, intermediation rental, so that we keep this promise of + Housing first +".
The government has given up in the 2023 budget on cutting places in emergency accommodation for homeless people, as it had planned so far, after protests from ten socialist and environmental mayors of large cities and aid associations. to the poorly housed.
The executive, which had increased the number of places in emergency accommodation to 200,000 during the Covid-19 pandemic, planned to fund only 193,000 at the end of 2022 and 186,000 at the end of 2023. Finally, between 197,000 and 198,000 places will be opened in 2023.
Associations fighting against precariousness expressed their fears on Wednesday of a "dark year" for homeless and poorly housed people, given the record number of unfilled requests at 115, or the increase in rental charges due to the energy crisis.
© 2022 AFP