“We expect an increase in needs”, declared on Sunday January 23 on franceinfo the deputy mayor of Marseille in charge of Solidarity, Audrey Garino, after the first Night of Solidarity organized Thursday in the city. This census operation of the homeless “aimed to know the needs to better guide our public policy of tomorrow”, she explains. “There are several hundred places, if not several thousand places, missing in our city.”
franceinfo: In 2016, there were 14,000 homeless people in Marseille, where 26% of inhabitants live below the poverty line. Do you expect an increase in the number of homeless people after the pandemic?
Audrey Garino: In any case, we expect an increase in needs. We have already felt it for the eighteen months that we have been in charge. We see it in the social services, during the marauding of the municipal social Samu. We feel the increase in demands in terms of access to food, rights and housing.
Of this figure of 14,000 homeless, it cannot be compared to our operation because it was a one year figure. It’s not necessarily the same thing as the mapping at time T that we did on Thursday evening. However, we know the emergency and the situation in our city and we can see very well how the health crisis has extremely heavy social consequences on an already fragile social fabric.
What did you learn from this first night of solidarity in Marseille?
There is a lack of several hundred places, if not several thousand places, in our city. This operation aimed to identify the needs to better guide our public policy of tomorrow. It is an operation of counting but also of raising awareness. What we have seen is that there is obviously a plurality and diversity of people and that, above all, accidents in life that lead to situations of homelessness can happen to everyone. We deal with very diverse people and audiences.
What will be the use of the 1.5 million euro poverty action plan signed at the end of last year with the State?
The objective for the city of Marseille is to reach the public furthest from the law: homeless people, who live in squats or slums. We must really guide the action, the commitment, the systems that we put in place for the public who fall through the cracks of our institution. It means more social workers, training and new equipment. For example, there had been no municipal showers for several years in Marseille. We have it now, but we know it’s not enough. Is there also a need for luggage storage or day care? Where are they created? All of this is a fairly vast action plan put in place by the city in partnership with state services.