France's Tent Cities

Since France's "tent cities" has been the topic on conversation at previous gatherings of Streams of Justice, this timeline may be of interest:

Timeline of Events in Paris

December 2005

• Doctors of the World (Medicins du Monde) distributed blue nylon tents for the homeless. Small communities of 8-10 tents pop up throughout the city.
• Vow to continue distributing them until the gov't funds housing.
• Tents were two-second pop up's donated by Parisian citizens.
  

June 2006

• As the tourist season approaches the gov't calls for tents to be removed. They claim the confined space is dangerous during the summer heat wave.
  
• The tents are removed by the organization.

August 2006

• Federal gov't allocates 7 million Euros to emergency shelters. Mainly this money means shelters no longer have to kick people out every morning.

December 2006

• Les Enfants de Don Quichotte (an organization of active youth)begin distributing red tents to the homeless, and middle class citizens wanting change. The tents are donated by citizens, and more donations come in as the media spreads word of the tent city.
• Tents are lined up along the Canel; the police couldn't forcefully remove people because of the danger of people falling into the Canal.
• The media, press, community activists, and well known citizens are alerted and invited to the tent city.
• Tent city's begin to spring up all over France (Lyon, Toulouse, Marseille)
• The organization creates a Charter guaranteeing housing for all.
  

Early January 2007

• Fed. gov't enacts an emergency program to open 27,000 new places in shelters, and devote 70 million Euros to this cause.
• Tent city continues, as activist argue this is not enough as shelters are not homes. Eight families move into a vacant office block near the Paris stock exchange.
  

Late January 2007

• Gov't announces a plan to create a legal right to housing. They aim to have it legally enforceable by 2008 for people with the most difficult situations. By 2012 it will be legally enforceable for all, with guarantees provided by the state. By 2012 people will be able to take legal action to have their rights enforced, making it the third legally enforceable right in France (along with education and healthcare)

February 2007

• Tent city remains until the law has been enacted.