A census operation of people on the street of an unprecedented scale must take place on the night of Thursday 20 to Friday 21 January. Eighteen cities participate. Paris, precursor in 2018, is in its fifth edition, Metz, Grenoble, Toulouse and Montpellier had it, each with its method, followed in 2019. This year, join Dunkirk, Arras, Rouen, Brest, Quimper, Lorient, Rennes, Mulhouse, Dijon, Lyon, Saint-Etienne, Marseille and Bordeaux as well as ten cities of Greater Paris – Aubervilliers, Bobigny, Bondy, Gagny, Romainville, Rosny-sous-Bois, Saint-Denis, Courbevoie, Rueil-Malmaison and, registered at the last moment, Saint-Ouen (Seine-Saint-Denis).
“In December 2020, a unanimous wish of the metropolitan councilors of Greater Paris called for this operation, recalls François Dechy, mayor (joint list Communist Party, Europe Ecology-The Greens and La France insoumise) of Romainville (Seine-Saint-Denis) and referent of the Metropolis on this subject. Admittedly, it only brings together a few pioneering towns, including seven from Seine-Saint-Denis, but also two from Hauts-de-Seine, with different sociologies, with a poverty rate of 7%, compared to 44% in Aubervilliers or 36% in Bobigny. »
“20% decline”
That night, teams combining municipal services, elected officials, association staff and volunteers will be joined, in a new development, by an INSEE enumerator. They will meet people on the street who will therefore have to answer two questionnaires, that of the city, rather qualitative (on the state of health, the vaccination situation vis-à-vis Covid-19, the length of stay in the street, the use of 115…) and that of Insee, as used during censuses of the general population, more statistical. “The census takes place each year with one-fifth of the population, explains Muriel Barlet, director of demography at INSEE, and we are organizing, this year, that of the homeless, on January 20 and 21. The Night of Solidarity is an opportunity, in the participating cities, for an even more reliable census, by motivated people. »
“These censuses are essential to know the needs of people on the street in order to guide public policies”, says Bruno Morel, Managing Director of Emmaus Solidarity, Vice-President, in Ile-de-France, of the Federation of Solidarity Actors. Following the first Solidarity Nights, Paris, for example, better identified the case of women and opened specific structures. “In 2021, we saw a 20% drop in the number of homeless people, to 2,829 – compared to 3,641 in 2019 then 3,552 in 2020 – but also a new and urgent need for food aid”, explains Mr. Morel.
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