During its vacation week, the team at Nice Première is pleased to offer a compilation of its best articles. For this third day, you will find a tribute to the writers of Nice-Première who have written 2000 articles over one year.
In order: Franck Viano (402 articles), Vincent Trinquat (197), Audrey Bollaro (112), Barbara D (49 articles), Nicolas Pelazza (26 articles), Kira (23 articles), Elise (22 articles), not forgetting the literary columns by Jean-Luc Vannier.
Today online, you will find “Employment in Nice” by Franck Viano, “A Beautiful Tuesday for Engagements at OGC Nice” by Vincent Trinquat, “The casting of Star Ac6” by Audrey Bollaro, “Eric de Montgolfier: Between Humility and Passion” by Barbara D and finally “Catholic Relief: The Social Elevator is Still Stuck” by Kira.
Happy holidays to the luckiest ones and have a great week for the others.
When tourism flourishes, all is well? As wealthy as it may seem on paper, the reality on the ground shows that it is in fact quite poor. In 2005 alone, Catholic Relief recorded 10,816 situations of poverty in the Alpes-Maritimes. Predominantly, it is single-parent families and the elderly who are affected by this plight. The difficulties mainly lie in the inability to afford housing and rental costs.
French Riviera. 2006. The deep blue is calm. Boats graze peacefully at the port of Ile de la Beauté. Tourist activity is booming. It smells of holidays and café on the terrace. Suddenly, a grim image disturbs this idyllic vision. A downtrodden homeless man makes his way. Dirty clothes, smeared face, a dog at his feet. “Do you have a cigarette?” You say no and walk on. Good for the soup kitchen, that one!
Paul* is a former truck driver. The twists and turns of life have thrown him onto the street. A divorce, a layoff, and he slid down the slope. His family? He doesn’t want to bother them with “his stories.” Besides, they are far away, in Lille. A married sister who lives frugally and barely manages to feed her two children. Why flee so far? Lille and Nice aren’t close by. “Here, there is sun. It makes you forget the misery, as Aznavour said. Plus, you see, they drop like flies in the North during winter.” Forget the misery, for a day. The demons come back at night. Without roof or faith, Paul sleeps outside on an old mattress retrieved from a dumpster. “Luckily, the others are there. And then the soup too. Even if sometimes, it tastes funny, the soup,” Paul winks, alluding to the pork soup distributed some time ago by affiliates of the young identitarian activists of Nice.
The others are Lucy, Ahmed, and Joël who share his misery on the same pavement. Merry fellows, they “still have a good laugh.” With or without housing.
Merchants wish for their departure. “It’s unbearable! These smells, this dirtiness on one of the nicest squares in Nice!” exclaims Loïc, a real estate agent. Where will they go? For them, no social housing. The housing office probably has its favorites…
Catholic Relief does what it can to help them. Far from misery rhetoric, the volunteers try to restore confidence to those who have lost everything. Through, notably, housing assistance, a distinction criterion between major exclusion and other forms of poverty. The construction of a social park and the granting of housing assistance are two spearheads of the association. Support in this area is constantly increasing – it went from 9% in 2001 to 18% in 2005.
Chantal Gueneau is the deputy permanent delegate at Catholic Relief of Alpes-Maritimes. She is one of the initiators of the Solidarity Pact passed between Banque Populaire and Catholic Relief. This contract, signed last July 4, bears the name of “Social Cohesion Fund.” It falls under the Social Cohesion Plan, propelled by Minister Jean-Louis Borloo. In particular, in the development of microcredits that allow financially struggling individuals to obtain reasonable loans to renovate their homes, invest in buying a car, or even restart a professional activity and, perhaps, create a business.
The Banque Populaire Côte d’Azur is the only one in the department to have embarked on this adventure. Elsewhere in France, the initiative is followed by Caisse d’Epargne and Crédit Mutuel. The bank commits to granting a loan from 500 to 3000 euros, 50% guaranteed by Catholic Relief.
This boost comes just in time. If we had avoided the “CPE” disaster, the “CNE” is already causing havoc. Certainly, it might seem that this contract reduces unemployment figures. But it undeniably amplifies precarity. “Banks refuse to lend money to CNE holders because they do not like taking risks. Moreover, they tend to advise less well than in the past and steer these people towards costly solutions, such as Cofinoga credits,” observes Chantal Gueneau.
The initiative of microcredits perhaps brings a solution to the concerned individuals. Especially since the volunteers of Catholic Relief will follow the beneficiaries throughout the operation. Far from being a cure-all, the “Social Cohesion Fund” is a hope for all those wishing to find a home and a roof.
* The names of the homeless have been changed at their request.
