Coronavirus Covid-19: “Stay confined, we agree, but where are we going? ”In Dijon the homeless wonder

“There is no confinement outside. We live outside. I’m tired of it. There, it will be even worse …”. This cry of despair is that of Damien, homeless for 1 year.

Since the entry into force of containment, the instructions have been clear. Stay at home and limit travel to essential needs. But when his “home” is the street, how do you do it?

Damien continues: “Stay confined”, we agree, but where are we going? Where do we sleep? They close everything. Even Sadi Carnot (note: the foster home located on rue Sadi Carnot) they are in quarantine. They put on masks, They give them fever (sic) and there is no place for everyone. They close the pop restaurant to us, they close everything to us. We’re in quarantine. Nobody talks about us. We can’t even eat, go out on the streets.

We’re really in shit. This is the war, Mr. Macron! But we don’t know how to do it.

In France, there are around 143,000 homeless people. There are some fifty has Dijon. It is therefore impossible for them to remain confined. If the night shelters remain open, the day shelters have all closed in Dijon. After spending the night and breakfast, the beneficiaries therefore find themselves on the street and unable to meet basic needs, such as showering or going to the toilet.

The city toilets are closed. We are waiting for her to reopen them.
They no longer had a shower. We found a point solution. There are big fears that cannot be answered.

Maeva, employee at SDAT

Associations in lack of means and forced to adapt

But for the SDAT (Société Dijonnaise de l’Aide par le Travail), there is no question of leaving them to fend for themselves in the absence of a day care center. “During the day, we ensure a marauding to come to the front of the homeless and the poorest. We bring them food, drink and some comfort. ” says Brice, one of the 7 employees. At the same time, another SDAT team manages the shower area loaned by Catholic relief services, notably by distributing towels and hygiene kits.

The situation is further complicated, especially as society is starting to run out of essential materials such as blankets, hydroalcoholic gels, shower gels, toilet paper, wipes, hygiene kits.

A context that worries Maeva, an SDAT employee:

“Today, it is urgent because people on the street have a lot of questions. They have very few answers. They ask us 5, 6 times a day because they are afraid, because they do not know not what they will become, because they do not know who will help them, because their situation is in suspense. They had steps in progress and do not know what they will become. “

For the French Red Cross, aid missions don’t stop either, even if they are changed. Christophe Talmet, the president of the local unit of the Dijon red cross explains:

“Now we are carrying out a dynamic marauding, that is to say that we are not staying in a fixed place. We have several waypoints in different places. ”

Measures were therefore taken and the number of team members was reduced to 4, compared to 8 per night in normal times. In the field, everyone is equipped accordingly with masks and gloves. Volunteers must adapt their habits to avoid contact. “We set up buffer zones in which volunteers and beneficiaries exchange. There is no direct contact. “

In the street, the homeless also expose themselves to the contraventions of the police, so the association has taken steps to deliver sworn certificates to prove that these people on the street have no fixed abode and that it is impossible for them to confine themselves. Because as Damien says, the homeless are “The police check us every 5 minutes, ask us for a paper. We have no papers! We are homeless. We don’t even have an address.”

Also homeless, Sam is more defeatist : “I worry less for us than for the others. We have stored so much stuff in the street … We are not waterproof but we are used to filth. I do not worry” .