Homeless in Paris: The Darker Side of the City of Light

Official statistics from 2012 put the number of people living without shelter in France at 141,500, an increase of 44% since 2001. Broadly speaking, homelessness is a middle-aged problem. Almost half of people living on the street are between the ages of 30 and 49, compared with 26% of people over 18 and 25% over 50. Women account for 38% of the homeless population. In 2016, a broader study found that 3.8 million people were residing in inadequate accommodation and 12.1 million had been affected by the housing crisis. Nowhere is the problem graver than in Paris. Urban homelessness rates, excluding the capital, grew by 11% in the same 11-year period mentioned above. In Paris, the increase was a staggering 84%.