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Based on an immersive ethnographic survey in the “world of the street” in the centre of a French city with a total population of nearly 300,000, this article investigates the daily situation of homeless people aged over 50 who correspond in several aspects to the figure of the vagrant. Describing their spatial and temporal practices, ritualised and rooted in the city centre, as well as socialisation aspects in the world of the street, our article considers their varying relationships to the social services and rehabilitation. From the routinisation of survival as a daily life aspect to the refusal of or dependency on assistance, the aim is to understand how extremely vulnerable ageing individuals continue to exist in a positive manner in terms both of material conditions and identity, even when they consider that the “future is behind them”.