Europe 1 with AFP 17:28 p.m., December 21, 2023

Since Friday, a cruise ship has been welcoming up to a hundred people in vulnerable situations every evening in Bordeaux, an operation launched by the State in partnership with an association until the end of the winter period.

The initiative makes it possible to offer more than 2,000 accommodation places this winter in the Bordeaux area, according to the prefecture, which specifies that this number has increased by 36% since 2017.

The ship, open from 16:30 p.m. to 08:30 a.m., offers beneficiaries a night in a single or double cabin as well as meals. During the day, they have to vacate the rooms until the evening in order to ensure their upkeep and maintenance.

A 15-day hosting contract

Access is conditional on a call to 115, the emergency number for homeless people. As soon as they arrive, the beneficiaries are taken care of by "a trained team, which follows them in their procedures," Uriel Thollas, director of the Diaconat Bordeaux emergency department, which manages the site, told AFP.

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The accommodation contract is for 15 days, "renewable according to defined criteria, such as the progress of the integration process," he added. Ismaël, 41, who had arrived in the boat two days earlier, believes he is "dreaming when he gets up in the morning" in this former cruise ship on the Garonne "which has nothing to do" with the emergency accommodation he has experienced in the past.

Mr. El Houssine, 67, retired and homeless since 2018, "warmly thanks" this welcome and support. "I don't feel alone thanks to young people who have opened their hearts to me," he says.

A substantial financial commitment

The project benefits from a "substantial financial commitment of 608,000 euros entirely supported by the State", stresses the prefect of Gironde Étienne Guyot, who adds that it has been supported "from its inception" by "the mayor of Bordeaux and his CCAS (Communal Centre for Social Action)".

In the event of extreme cold, the boat "may be open 24 hours a day, for a few days, but in a way that is unsatisfactory for the beneficiaries and the teams due to technical and financial constraints," Thallas said.

Anne Marchand, regional director of the Abbé Pierre Foundation, welcomes this initiative which "allows 100 people not to sleep outside, but it remains only a solution for the night, for two weeks and in winter". "We need to move from a logic of urgency, of band-aid, to a logic of anticipation," she added.

After these five months, the prefecture plans to keep the boat available as a collection base for seasonal workers, for example.