Lacoste, Louise

Integrating homeless people through work. A system grappling with the categories of ‘no fixed abode’ and ‘homeless’ - 2023.


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The Parisian “First Hours” scheme aims to help homeless people return to work, by gradually resuming an economic activity. As a result, the system was built on a distinction between “homeless” and “of no fixed abode”. While the first category - targeted by the scheme - involves people sleeping in a place not intended for habitation, the second category concerns individuals who have already found some type of stable accommodation (either in an emergency or social reintegration centre) and can a priori directly enter the mainstream labour market. However, an analysis of discussions between organisations and recruitment practices for the system leads us to question this differentiation between rough sleepers, who are more vulnerable, and those in social housing, who are more stable in their lives.