According to the testimonies from local social aid groups, the homeless are being expelled from hotels to keep all the rooms for the Olympics, and more and more women and children are sleeping on the streets. Last May, Housing Minister announced: "Many Parisian hoteliers indeed no longer wish to accommodate the homeless, as they expect an influx of clients during the Rugby World Cup and the Olympics."
Mathilde Panot, the head of French Unbowed, said Tuesday: “Let's remember that (President) Emmanuel Macron had promised in 2017 that within two years, no one would be sleeping on the streets. However, we have a number that is exploding, especially of children sleeping on the streets.”
France Unbowed deputies stressed the need to act in the face of the housing crisis, underlining the deterioration of the emergency housing, already aggravated by cold temperatures and the expulsion of the homeless, in the runup to the summer games.
Similarly, on the issue of homeless death toll, as the deputies were decrying the homeless crisis, on January 9, a woman was found dead under her blanket on the street in Carpentras, Vaucluse, in southeastern France, and the lifeless body of a 69-year-old man was discovered in a cellar where he had taken refuge to escape the cold, in Boulogne, in the Paris region.
In a February 2023 report, the Foundation estimated the number of homeless people in France at 330,000, including a growing number of children.