Preamble: 115 million Europeans at risk of poverty or social exclusion (source: Eurostat). And some other harrowing figures: 16% with a disposable income below the poverty line; 10% of households with low work intensity; 8% experiencing severe material deprivation (on average, among the total EU27 population in 2010). Furthermore, 23% of people are affected by at least one of the three exclusion criteria, with France having an average of 19.3.
This article is a compendium of several reports and thought pieces on a delicate issue that touches on both the right of everyone to satisfy their basic needs and live with dignity, as well as the aspiration for equality among all.
This is still not the case, even in France, the country that proclaimed liberty, equality, and fraternity.
How can this be remedied? The task is complex and the path certainly long. But what if we simply started paying attention to people in their differences?
A STATE OF AFFAIRS
The Alpes-Maritimes (as well as the Var) are among the departments with average poverty, with a profile close to the metropolitan level both in terms of the level and intensity of poverty and income inequality: 13.9% of the department’s inhabitants live below the poverty line (yet 149,000 people out of a total of 1,073,000 residents), a percentage slightly higher than the national average (13.2%) but lower than the PACA Region’s average (15.5%), where only the Hautes-Alpes do better with 13.4%.
Regarding the geographical distribution of this poverty, the INSEE report distinguishes:
The Menton sector, an area with a strong tourism component (perhaps because it offers only limited types of jobs), is among the most affected regions in the PACA Region (along with the Briançonnais) by low wages (>27% low wages), with people, mostly men, on temporary contracts and in seasonal jobs.
Other sectors of the department, particularly Nice and Cannes-Antibes, are “areas with a strong urban component,” except for the Upper Country (and therefore with much more diversified jobs) where low wage rates are lower (<25%), especially in the Cannes-Antibes sector; among those affected by low wages, many are young, but also full-time employees on permanent contracts.
Completing this picture, an INSEE study on disposable income in the Alpes-Maritimes department shows that poverty mainly affects categories of people impacted by unemployment, predominantly living on social benefits. These poor are primarily urban dwellers residing in city centers and large housing estates but are also found in certain rural areas. Regarding age category, mainly children and young people are affected (22% of those aged 0 to 19 and 16.4% of those aged 20 to 24).
As for the type of household, it mainly concerns single-parent families (26.2% of the poor), single men and women (around 17% of the poor in each category), while the poverty rate already stood at 13.9% of the population in 2006.
THREE SYMPTOMS OF POVERTY: HOUSING, FOOD, AND LONELINESS ISSUES
*The cruel shortage of social housing*
50,000 low-rent apartments, including 16,000 in the city of Nice alone according to ADEMONICE Association in 2006, 45,000 low-rent apartments according to the Abbé Pierre Foundation in 2008 were lacking in the department, while at the same time ADEMONICE noted, 30,000 apartments remained vacant, with owners preferring to pay a fine if the apartment is not rented after a certain period rather than rent it below market value.
Final precision by ADEMONICE: only 3 municipalities in the department meet the 20% social housing threshold set by the SRU Law: Carros, Valbonne, and St André de la Roche, with other municipalities subjected to penalties.
In our department, as in all of France, more and more individuals lack the means to feed themselves and turn to food distributions by charitable and humanitarian organizations. Thus, the amount of foodstuffs distributed by the Food Bank keeps increasing in the Alpes-Maritimes: from 400 tonnes distributed in 1990 to over 1,000 tonnes. The Food Bank also laments the lack of human (volunteers), financial (subsidies), and material (locations) means it faces to respond to the growing needs for food.
The part of aid granted by the Secours Catholique confirms these two serious problems, as food aid accounts for 61% and housing aid 28% of the aid provided to individuals welcomed by the Secours Catholique teams.
*Finally, how can we not mention loneliness, declared the Great National Cause of 2011, which increasingly affects those left by the wayside by poverty and insecurity.*
This progression is accompanied by the arrival of numerous “newcomers,” among them particularly young couples on temporary contracts, part-time workers, temps, retirees receiving low pensions, and single-parent families.
*Regarding family situations, one can note:*
That the share of families has increased quite significantly as it went from 40.1% to 46.5% of the population welcomed, with this progression mainly driven by the sharp increase in couples with children who moved from less than 10% to over 16% of those welcomed, even if single-parent families (particularly single mothers) remain the most numerous (27% of those welcomed).
That isolated individuals remain, however, the majority even if their share has decreased: single men, in particular, lead with 37.5% of those welcomed (40.7% in 2008), far ahead of single women who represent 16% (19.2% in 2008).
THE HIGH RELIANCE ON SOCIAL BENEFITS CONFIRMS THE EFFECTS OF THE CRISIS
Since late 2008, the number of recipients of the Minimum Insertion Income (RMI), the Single Parent Allowance (API), both replaced as of June 1, 2009, by an Active Solidarity Income (RSA), and the Disability Living Allowance (AAH) has significantly increased in the department due to a severe degradation of the economic and social situation, particularly the deterioration of the job market situation.
STRONG INCREASE IN THE NUMBER AND PRECARITY OF FOREIGNERS
A strong increase in the number of people of foreign nationality among those welcomed by the Secours Catholique teams is noted, often recent arrivals since nearly 1/3 of them had been in France for less than 6 months.
Regarding their geographical origin, while the percentages of foreigners from North Africa (18%) and sub-Saharan Africa (6%) remain stable, the share of foreigners from Eastern European countries is strongly increasing, mostly asylum seekers.
*Finally, it should be noted that increasingly restrictive legislation against foreigners plunges them into greater precariousness.*
The legislation is increasingly repressive for irregular foreigners, as a result, many foreigners who easily found work while awaiting their regularization can no longer find it because employers fear fines. Five years is the time they have to wait to file a request—how to live in the meantime? Some have been in France for 7, 8, 10 years, they pay taxes.
*It is said that immigrants are costly, but that’s false!*
They receive 47.9 billion euros from the state and contribute 60.3 billion euros back (study conducted by researchers at the University of Lille), 90% of highways are built and maintained by immigrant workers, 42% of cleaning company workers are immigrants.
