Homelessness in Paris

There is an article in Liberation about homelessness- specifically, homeless people living under the bridges near Paris Plage were firmly asked to leave for its inauguration, and there seems to be the feeling that City Hall wants to "clean up" the banks of the Seine for Paris Plage. It's not a big surprise that there are homeless people in Paris, nor a big surprise about where they were living- under the bridges, along the Blvd Richard Lenoir. According to the article, there are 3, 606 places in shelters and other temporary/emergency housing, and 2,000 people sleeping outside. Granted, it sounds like Paris has a relatively small homeless population compared to some American cities (an article in the New York Times mentions 38,000 people in shelters three years ago, the most ever).

The article mentioned that homelessness-advocacy groups were calling for placing people in "real" apartments as quickly as possible, rather than having a progression from shelters to permanent housing. This seems to be the current trend in the U.S.: given the uncertainty and stressful conditions of shelter life, cities are switching to trying to place people in housing first, then deal with their other problems- alcoholism, emotional and psychological problems, etc. This is the first I have heard of that being the case in France as well.

Here's the article (as always, en français ...): http://www.liberation.fr/actualite/societe/194854.FR.php