“We have to do it very quickly”, reacts the Abbé Pierre Foundation

“This is good news, but now we have to act very quickly to open these places,” reacts Tuesday January 9 on franceinfo the general delegate of the Abbé Pierre Foundation, Christophe Robert, to the announcement made Monday by the Minister Delegate for Housing. Patrice Vergriete indicated that additional credits of 120 million euros would be committed to “strengthen the emergency accommodation system”while France is experiencing an episode of intense cold.

“We are asking the government to set up emergency units with the prefects to find all empty buildings, develop them and have them managed by the associations”, adds Christophe Robert. He describes a “really tense situation”

“In recent weeks, there have been around 5,300 people who called 115 and were not offered a solution, including more than 1,300 children.”

Christophe Robert general delegate of the Abbé Pierre Foundation

at franceinfo

This is without counting those for whom the emergency number is no longer an option. Indeed, “We know that two thirds of homeless people no longer call because they can’t find a solution. We’ve been sounding the alarm for months to explain that in big cities in particular, thousands of people call the emergency number, 115, because they don’t know where to sleep once the evening comes.”he emphasizes.