How many homeless people are there in France? What is their profile? INSEE's Focus on Homeless People

More than 4,000 visits by INSEE investigators have been scheduled in 100 urban areas, to people over 16 years old and attending support structures.

"This isn't a census as such," explains Thomas Lellouch, project director at the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies. "Beyond the figures, which we're eagerly awaiting, we're really trying to understand the profiles, living conditions, and backgrounds of homeless people."

"Since 2012, the number of accommodation places has increased significantly, and therefore the number of homeless people, and associations are seeing on the ground that the profiles have changed significantly, hence the importance of drawing up a panorama as close as possible to reality," he adds.

This applies to homeless people (those sleeping on the street or in another place not intended for habitation, such as a building lobby, a car park, a public garden, a train station, etc.), but also to people sheltered within the framework of an accommodation system (in a collective centre, a hotel or in ordinary accommodation).

The results of this study, conducted with Drees, the statistics service of the social ministries, will then be made available to various stakeholders and the general public.

"Researchers will use it to work on exclusion mechanisms and issues related to extreme poverty," emphasizes Thomas Lellouch. "Administrations will be able to use it to implement public policies. As for associations, they will use it as reference data to support their advocacy work with institutions."

The previous INSEE study, from 2012, reported 143,000 homeless people, a figure that was 50% higher than the first survey in 2001. Among French-speaking adult homeless people: 10% were on the streets without accommodation - in other words, homeless, two out of five were women, one in four were aged between 18 and 29, and one in four were employed.

In thirteen years, the INSEE method has evolved. Outreach surveys have been integrated into the scope of the survey, and new tools are being used. "Before, everything was on paper; now it's on tablets. We have questionnaires in foreign languages ​​that we've had translated and pre-recorded as audio files," emphasizes Thomas Lellouch.

In the questions, the themes around access to food and water were enriched, as were social relations, recourse to associations and violence suffered.

This new study was strongly requested by the associations concerned, who are warning of a deterioration in the situation.

In the absence of updated data, the Foundation for Housing the Disadvantaged (formerly the Abbé Pierre Foundation) has begun its own count. Published in February, its latest report states that there are 350,000 homeless people in France. For the associations, far from being anecdotal, the lack of official figures tends to make this population invisible and prevent "ambitious policies."