Presentation given by Emmanuelle Guyavarch and Erwan Le Méner, France, at a FEANTSA Research Conference on "Migration, Homelessness and Demographic Change in Europe", Pisa, Italy, 2011

1. Who are the French Homeless
Families ?
Erwan Le Mé ner, Samusocial de Paris / ENS
Cachan
Emmanuelle Guyavarch, Samusocial de Paris
Interdisciplinary
Center 'Sciences
EUROPEAN RESEARCH CONFERENCE for peace’
Homelessness, Migration and Demographic Change in Europe
Pisa, 16th September 2011

2. 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 ?
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3. 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
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4. Part 1 – A growing but
undocumented population
 Survey figures
 115 figures in Paris
 Scientific invisibility
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5. Survey figures (1)
Tab. 1. Homeless Families in French surveys
Survey Geographical Percentage of Reconstructed
(main scale adults living estimation of
 reference)
Tableau des diffé rentes enquêtes with children people living in
families in Ile-
de-France
SD 1995 (Marpsat Paris urban area 8% ?
and Firdion, 2000)
SD 2001 France 22% > 6,600
(Brousse, 2006)
Samenta 2009 Ile-de-France 24% >10,000
(Laporte and
Chauvin 2010
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6. 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
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7. 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
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8. 115 figures in Paris (2)
 Graph. 1. Evolution of the number of nights attributed and number of users, 115 in
Paris, 1999-2010
1600000 14000
1400000
12000
1200000
10000
Number of nights
Number of users
1000000
8000
800000
6000
600000
4000
400000
2000
200000
0 0
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010
years
Singles persons nights Famililes nights Single persons Persons counting as families
 2010: Paris’s 115 has sheltered more parents and children than single adults
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9. Scientific invisibility
 A few instances
 Almost never a matter of interest
 A realistic and a constructivist account for this
neglect
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10. Part 2 – A sociodemographic
analysis of 115 homeless families
 Sex and age ratios
 Family structure
 National origins
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11. Sex and age ratios (1)
Graph. 2. 1999 sex and age ratios – single persons vs. parents and children
(Source: 115 in Paris)
1999
80+
75
Men 70 Women
65
60
55
50
45 Living in families
40
Single persons
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
700 500 300 100 100 300 500 700
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12. Sex and age ratios (2)
Graph. 3. 2010 sex and age ratios – single persons vs. parents and children
(Source: 115 in Paris)
2010
80+
75
Me 70 Women
n 65
60
55
50
45
Living in families
40
35 Single persons
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
700 500 300 100 100 300 500 700
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13. Family structure
Graph. 4. The structure of 115 homeless families in 2010 (Source: 115 in Paris)
Femme enceinte Autre
Couple avec seule 1%
femme enceinte 6%
3%
Père seul avec
enfant(s)
2%
Couple avec
enfant(s)
42%
Mère seule avec
enfant(s)
46%
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14. National origins
Graph. 5. 2010 – The national origins of 115 homeless families (Source: 115 in
Paris)
Amérique du
Asie 11% Sud 1% Autre UE27
23%
Europe 42%
dont :
France 12%
Autre Europe
7%
Afrique 47%
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15. 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
?
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16. 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
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17. 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
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18. The hotel system: Just a
substitute shelter?
Map 1. Geographical distribution of 115 families
 Territorial inequalities nights, Ile-de-France, 2010 (Source : 115 de
Paris)
(see map 1)
 A multiscale revolving
doors phenomenon
 Coordination at
stake?
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19. Social emergency: a public
policies consequence ?
 Who is accountable for these families ?
 Confusion of migration and homelessness
policies
 Social emergency as a policy abeyance
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20. 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 ?
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