More precariousness for less access to aid. It is the results of the Secours catholique report on poverty in 2024which was published this Thursday, November 14. In the Meuse-Moselle delegation, 6,000 families were supported by 950 volunteers last year in 2023. People who sometimes experience very precarious situations: a quarter of them have no resources, and more than six out of ten beneficiaries are considered inactive, and therefore have no no employment, no unemployment, no training.
A particularly fragile population sensitive to the digital divide. Indeed, according to the charity, the remoteness of aid devices and their digitalization sometimes causes great difficulty. “Now when we go to CAF or Pôle emploi, there is no one there,” explains for example a beneficiary from Metz-Borny. “I'm dyslexic, so I can't send messages or things like that. So we go to friends' houses to see if there's anyone who can do it.”she admits.
“I don’t have a printer, I don’t have a computer”describes another. Situations that can sometimes lead to great discouragement. “There are times when I can't do what I want. So I give up because it's too heavy for me. We are facing a wall“also tells this third beneficiary.
The rate of non-use of certain social assistance is exploding
Moreover, in Meuse and Moselle, a quarter of people who turn to Secours catholique do so to obtain help with administrative procedures, i.e. 12% more than nationally. “The structures are more and more difficult to access, there is no longer a human interlocutor”summarizes Alexis Garnier, the Meuse-Moselle delegate of the association. But these figures can also be explained by the fact that “Secours catholique announced that it was ready to help in these procedures. And so we created systems, places, whether in Thionville, Metz or elsewhere, for people to come, we made computers availablethere is the possibility of scanning documents, the possibility of making photocopies and above all of being helped with the procedures. Because when we don't understand, we need people to explain to us.”he concludes.
Especially since the consequence of this digital divide is that the rate of non-use of certain social assistance is exploding. It is from 31% for the RSA for examplein the Meuse-Moselle delegation.
