France: five large cities sue the State to denounce the shortcomings of emergency accommodation
The environmentalist and socialist mayors of five large French cities announced Thursday, February 15, that they would take the State to administrative justice to denounce its “
deficiencies
” in terms of emergency accommodation and demand “an overhaul” of a system “at its end.” of breath.”
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The “
observation has been made for months, even years, with extremely clear alerts
” on emergency accommodation and “
a system that is today unsuitable, insufficient, ineffective and absolutely unworthy
”, indicated the EELV mayor of Strasbourg. , Jeanne Barseghian, in an online press conference with her environmentalist counterparts from Bordeaux, Grenoble and Lyon, and socialist counterparts from Rennes.
Referring to the
latest report from the Abbé Pierre Foundation
, which counts 330,000 homeless people in France, she denounced a system that is "running out of steam", called for its "
overhaul
" and regretted "
the deafening silence of the State
" which "
never responded
” to the letter they sent to him in December with Anne Hidalgo, PS mayor of Paris.
Two months earlier, at the beginning of October, these six cities had also filed informal appeals before their respective prefectures, which remained a dead letter, they deplored, explaining that five of them had decided to refer this time to the administrative courts on which they depend. to file “
contentious compensation claims
”.
Paris is not joining this new approach. Symbolically, “
we are asking for reimbursement of the expenses implemented
” by each of these cities for emergency accommodation for which the State is responsible, explained Ms. Barseghian. But also to demand “
the overhaul ” of an “
obsolete
” system
, she insisted.
From 130,000 euros to 3 million claimed
The sums claimed range from 130,000 euros for Bordeaux (appeal filed “at the latest” on February 24) to three million euros for Rennes (appeal filed on February 9). Strasbourg, which claims more than 917,000 euros, seized the administrative court on February 12, Grenoble on February 7 and Lyon on the 9th.
“
We can no longer cope alone
,” declared Nathalie Appéré, mayor of Rennes. “
We are taking more than our share
,” added Pierre Hurmic from Bordeaux. “
It is by trying and seeing our requests remain unanswered that we have come to file this appeal for failure
,” added Grégory Doucet, mayor of Lyon.
Eric Piolle, mayor of Grenoble, recalled “
the promise
” of President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron in 2017, according to which no one should sleep on the street by the end of his first five-year term: “
Seven years later, where in are we of this promise?
», questioned the ecologist. Alongside 15 other mayors, including Anne Hidalgo, they sent a letter to the Head of State on Thursday in which they informed him to take legal action, ensuring that they had continued to “
alert him for months about the humanitarian drama which is playing out in our country
.”
“
The end of the “Great Cold” plans and the return to the streets add further difficulties to an unacceptable situation (...) Human lives are at stake, like the future of thousands of children
,” write the elected officials, “
determined to continue (their) fight and (their) actions for dignity
”.
Also listenReport at Samu Social de Paris: urgency in the face of precariousness
(
With
AFP)
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