“We have already housed 130 to 140 homeless people” in “permanent housing and in Paris”, assures the prefect of Ile-de-France

Marc Guillaume refutes any “social cleansing” while less than two weeks before the start of the Paris Olympic Games, the New York Times headlined: “France chases illegal immigrants onto the streets out of Paris before the Olympics.”

“We have already hosted 130 to 140 Homeless, and obviously, these are permanent homes and in Paris”For “great outsiders” And “thanks to the Olympic Games”assures Marc Guillaume, prefect of the Île-de-France region, guest Monday July 15 on France Bleu Paris. Eleven days before the opening of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, he refutes any social cleansing. But the New York Times website put Paris and the Olympics on the front page last Saturday with this headline: “France chases illegal immigrants onto the streets out of Paris before the Olympics.”

“It’s a title that doesn’t make sense, the prefect replied to the American daily, because obviously, for weeks and months, we have continued to do what we have been doing for years, that is to say, to carry out operations to shelter people who are on the streets, to allow them to have a roof over their heads, to not sleep outside”.

“None” social cleansing, he assures. “On the contrary, we have succeeded in building a plan to allow the most socially deprived people who are on the streets, who are under the bridges of Paris, to benefit from a special programme on the occasion of the Olympic Games.“continues Marc Guillaume.

According to the region’s prefect, “120 000 people are housed in Île-de-France. We also have some in the provinces. So, we have the capacity to offer solutions also in the provinces, no one is forced to have a solution imposed on them. We carried out another operation last week to shelter women and children”For “Having accommodation thanks to the Olympic Games is also a great achievement”concludes the regional prefect.