Support most vulnerable & fight against isolation

In France, 330 000 people are currently homeless. This rate rises significantly since the successive economic crisis caused by the COVID19 pandemic and the different diplomatic tensions across the globe. Along this period of confusion, poverty has increased and affected many different layers of the population. Nowadays, single-parent families, migrants, vulnerable women, unemployed or people impaired by disability or illness are out on the streets. 

Through wandering life, they are experiencing extreme poverty and social exclusion. Of course, this harsh lifestyle is significantly affecting every aspects of their existence, especially their physical and mental health, social and professional integration or family balance. 

In this very specific context, the services and measures usually provided by associations or public authority are inadequates and requires new methods of intervention. Indeed, considering the instability of their way of life and their exclusion from society, its necessary to offer homeless people a personalised support. Therefore, the Secours Catholique - Caritas France proposes to switch roles: volunteers go to meet people on the streets and don't wait for them in welcome facilities, deserted by this population due to the unsuitability of the actual operating model and voluntary withdrawal. 

The assistance takes the form of street tours. Along unpredictable or predetermined itineraries, volunteers are exploring different areas to meet people that do not visit accomodation facilities anymore. During these tours, 1124 volunteers, shared in 40 groups from 30 delegations are travelling the streets of France, day or night, by foot, bike or car. They ensure the distribution of edible goods and staple products such as food, coffee, blankets or handwarmers but, most importantly, they provide an attentive listening and moments of exchange to vulnerable people.

Through this initiative, the Secours Catholique try to satisfy several objectives:

• establishing fixed meeting places for extremely poor people. In this way, it will be easier for our association to support them and provide a sustainable help,
• recreating social bond with excluded population,
• orienting homeless people toward local services, especially night shelters and welcome facilities,
• proposing an emergency aid to most vulnerable people,
• restoring dignity of the poorest.

To achieve these goals, our project is based on 3 actions:

• meet vulnerable people in their context of life
• listen to them and identify their needs
• break the cycle of exclusion by bringing them back into the society through associations' services. 

Among the different services proposed by the Secours Catholique, we can mention the 371 rooms in accomodation centers but also our 70 welcome facilities. 

Firstly, these places will provide them a safe place where they can have a rest, a wash and a coffee but they will also enable them to meet volunteers or professionals that will give them advices so they can regain financial stability. Secondly, they could take part in multiple activities such as artistics and creative workshops, sport events or cooking classes. These initiatives will help them create, progressively, a social link with people that are currently experiencing the same difficulties but also with people that come from other social classes, thereby encouraging social diversity. 

In order to achieve this process, the involvement of our volunteers is precious since they are the representative of our association. They need to know the solutions that can be proposed to people on the street but they also have to adapt their methods of intervention according to the context and the territory. 

In 2023, the Secours Catholique has met 90 000 homeless individuals, up 12% from the previous year. We notice a sustained activity in Paris, Marseille and Guyana, 3 territories particularly affected by poverty. The capital is the epicenter of the project since 200 000€ has been invested just for the financing of the street tours in this city. This sum has been spent on street tours, six evenings a week, at Châtelet and Gare du Nord, 2 strategic areas frequented by migrants or unaccompanied minors. In Marseille, a team of 4 volunteers is driving into the city every evening, from monday to saturday, to propose hot drink and a discussion.  

The budget for this projet is 315 000€, including the purchase of commodities and the maintenance of vehicules. 

Testimonial from a volunteer who used to live on the street

" Many people walk past homeless people without looking at them, without greeting them. We are oftenly the only ones they can talk to [...]  I used to live on the street, we talk about it. It changes our relationship too. I know what they're going through because I was in their shoes few months ago. I know how to approach them, how to talk to them. When we don't see people that we met on the street during a tour, we're hoping they get through it. It's hard to keep in touch. Once, I saw again someone that I met during a tour, he told me that he found a home and a job. It made me happy."