The number of homeless people has increased by 30% in one year in Vaucluse, according to the Red Cross

France Bleu Vaucluse: Have you noticed an increase in the number of homeless people on the streets of Vaucluse?

Benoît Establet: Absolutely. In 2022, we had 45,000 contacts on the street, in 2023 we increased to 60,000 including 3,000 unique contacts. So that’s an increase of 33% over one year. And this year, it’s increasing again, we see it every day in our actions.

France Bleu Vaucluse: How can associations help these people? By increasing the number of raids?

Benoît Establet: It's difficult to increase the number of raids because we're already filming every day of the year, or almost. During the winter, we will try to strengthen our tours, but we are already at a tight pace. We can hardly do more. But we don't give up.

France Bleu Vaucluse: Do you have the feeling that awareness is slow in France regarding homeless people and street deaths?

Benoît Establet: I won't go into that area, I don't know whether or not there is sufficient awareness. But fortunately there are associations like the French Red Cross to help these people, because there are more and more of them. We are having more and more difficulty responding to demand in a qualitative manner. We have to reinvent ourselves to find funding, collect food and bring a little human warmth with the volunteers.