Who are the French Homeless Families?

EUROPEAN RESEARCH CONFERENCEHomelessness, Migration and Demographic Change in Europe

Pisa, 16th September 2011

Interdisciplinary Center 'Sciences

for peace’

Who are the French Homeless Families ?

Erwan Le Méner, Samusocial de Paris / ENS Cachan

Emmanuelle Guyavarch, Samusocial de Paris



Contents

Foreword: the ENFAMS action research project

A growing but undocumented population

A socio-demographic analysis of 115 homeless families

Policy analysis

Conclusion - A forthcoming public problem ?



Foreword: the ENFAMS action research project

Enfants et FAMilles Sans logement (homeless families and children)

2011-2013 research program including: A policy analysis An ethnographic fieldwork An epidemiological and sociological survey

Sponsors: Fondation Macif, Unicef France, Caisse Nationale des Allocations familiales



Part 1 – A growing but undocumented population

Survey figures

115 figures in Paris

Scientific invisibility



Survey figures (1)

Tableau des différentes enquêtes

Survey (main reference)

Geographical scale

Percentage of adults living with

children

Reconstructed estimation of

people living in families in Ile-de-

France

SD 1995 (Marpsat and Firdion, 2000)

Paris urban area 8% ?

SD 2001 (Brousse, 2006)

France 22% > 6,600

Samenta 2009 (Laporte and Chauvin 2010

Ile-de-France 24% >10,000

Tab. 1. Homeless Families in French surveys



Survey figures (2)

Limitations: Children don’t appear in the final census Foreign langage speaking people are not

interviewed Hotel sampling data basis is partial

Underestimation = source of invisibility



115 figures in Paris (1)

115 = emergency call center for homeless people (> hotels providing for homeless families)

A unique source of data for longitudinal analysis

Limitations: provider data (vs. surveys); geographical scale; representativeness

Michele Greer

?



115 figures in Paris (2) Graph. 1. Evolution of the number of nights attributed and number of users, 115 in

Paris, 1999-2010

2010: Paris’s 115 has sheltered more parents and children than single adults

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

0

200000

400000

600000

800000

1000000

1200000

1400000

1600000

1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010

Num

ber o

f use

rs

Num

ber o

f nig

hts

years

Singles persons nights Famililes nights Single persons Persons counting as families



Scientific invisibility

A few instances

Almost never a matter of interest

A realistic and a constructivist account for this neglect



Part 2 – A sociodemographic analysis of 115 homeless families

Sex and age ratios

Family structure

National origins



Sex and age ratios (1)Graph. 2. 1999 sex and age ratios – single persons vs. parents and children (Source: 115 in Paris)

700 500 300 100 100 300 500 700

05

1015202530354045505560657075

80+1999

Living in families

Single persons

WomenMen



Sex and age ratios (2)

Graph. 3. 2010 sex and age ratios – single persons vs. parents and children (Source: 115 in Paris)

700 500 300 100 100 300 500 700

05

1015202530354045505560

65

70

75

80+2010

Living in families

Single persons

WomenMen



Family structure

Couple avec enfant(s)

42%

Mère seule avec enfant(s)

46%

Père seul avec enfant(s)

2%

Couple avec femme enceinte

3%

Femme enceinte seule

6%

Autre1%

Graph. 4. The structure of 115 homeless families in 2010 (Source: 115 in Paris)



National origins

Afrique 47%

Asie 11%Amérique du

Sud 1%

France 12%

Autre UE27 23%

Autre Europe 7%

Europe 42%dont :

Graph. 5. 2010 – The national origins of 115 homeless families (Source: 115 in Paris)



Part 3 - Policy analysis

Objectives and methodology

The institutionalization of family administration

The hotel system: just a substitute shelter?

Social emergency: a public policies consequence ?



Objectives and methodology

Sundry publics, one emergency shelter system?

Who do you what? For what? With what? For what results and consequences?

50/150 semi-structured interviews with public administrations and associations



The institutionalization of family administration

A system made for single males

A few associations for a growing population; an early specialization

State and local administrations’ bargainings

Hotels = both a solution and a source of problems



The hotel system: Just a substitute shelter?

Territorial inequalities (see map 1)

A multiscale revolving doors phenomenon

Coordination at stake?

Map 1. Geographical distribution of 115 families nights, Ile-de-France, 2010 (Source : 115 de Paris)



Social emergency: a public policies consequence ?

Who is accountable for these families ?

Confusion of migration and homelessness policies

Social emergency as a policy abeyance



Conclusion: A forthcoming public problem?

Credit restrictions affecting homeless families (April-May, 2011)

Politization of the debate: end of a decade of consensus ?

Social movement

“Homeless Families” on the public stage: “de-socialization” of public problems ?

Who are the French Homeless Families?

News & Politics

Transcript of Who are the French Homeless Families?