PARIS: Of Emmanuel Macron’s many bold promises since sweeping to power last year, his pledge to completely banish homelessness from the streets of France was perhaps the boldest.
The president gave himself until the close of 2017 to end rough-sleeping once and for all — but a midnight stroll through Paris shows that goal to be distant dream.
“We’ve failed there,” Macron admitted last week, pointing to a continuing influx of African and South Asian migrants who often end up camping out.
Visitors are often shocked by the grim poverty in pockets of the City of Light, the constant begging on the metro and the migrants’ tents perched along the scenic Canal St Martin.
Charities estimate the homeless population of Paris to be about 3,000.
But there’s no official data — an issue that city hall, under pressure to tackle one of the capital’s most visible problems, is now trying to fix. — AFP
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