News / France

France govt. urges firms with unused office space to aid homeless

Saturday, 17 December 2022 5:08 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 17 December 2022 5:21 PM ]

This picture shows tents set up under the Porte de la Chapelle ring bridge in Paris, France, January 29, 2019. (File photo by Reuters)

France’s housing minister has called on companies with unused office space to make some room for the homeless amid cost-of-living hardships.

“I am appealing to bosses who have offices they are no longer using which could be swiftly made available to help the homeless,” Olivier Klein told France Inter radio on Saturday.

Klein said the government had "mobilized" a task force to manage the issue and charitable associations would help in the effort to house people with nowhere to go.

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France: Hundreds arrested in cost-of-living protests in Paris

Temperatures across much of the country have significantly fallen at times in recent days. Some associations estimate that more than 2,000 children are currently sleeping rough in France. On Monday, regional authorities met to identify ways to make unused public buildings available as emergency shelter. Four regions, including Ile de France, comprising Paris and its surroundings, launched a plan to that effect on Saturday.

The Morts de la Rue (Street Deaths) association has estimated that last winter at least 620 homeless people died across France.

Thousands of 'warm banks' set up across UK as cost of living crisis deepens

The UK sets up more than 3,200 “warm banks” across the country for people who cannot afford to heat up their homes as much as they like amid a cost of living crisis.

Elsewhere in Britain, many charity organizations have issued warnings that low-income people were at risk during the extreme low temperatures, as average energy bills are twice as higher than they were this time last year.

“We’re all struggling with everything, gas, electric, food. Until a year ago I could get by on benefits,” said Nora, a jobless woman in her 50s, who regularly visits a warming center.

Europe’s cost-of-living and energy crises have grown in severity over the past year, as increased demand during the post-COVID reopening of economies coincided with Russia's war in Ukraine and a subsequent squeeze on oil and gas supplies to Europe. However, experts say the UK is the worst affected country in Western Europe, as it saw the annual rate of inflation reach 11.1 percent in October 2022.

The war in Ukraine has massively pushed up oil and gas prices as both Russia and the West play hydrocarbon supplies as a bargaining chip. The market price of fuels and electricity has adjusted accordingly, triggering double-digit energy inflation.

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