Reporting of homeless
Reporting of homeless people to the 115 emergency number
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Contact : E. Lemener
In Paris, the emergency number "115" aims to, among other roles, enable individuals to "report" the homeless to the Paris Samusocial so that a mobile outreach team may intervene. Through a two-pronged quantitative and qualitative research approach, we sought to understand the explanations and reasons that may account for these reports.
The quantitative study shows that an individual does not report just anytime or anywhere. Media incentive, professional paces (most reports are made after work and late in the evening), and, above all, the proximity between the reporter and the reported could explain the temporal and geographic variations of these reports.
Reporting homelessness is a seasonal approach: the reports are much more numerous in winter. The media coverage, increased during this season, may be one explanation. Reporting may also be related to perceived closeness to the situation of the homeless: direct perception of the cold seems to create empathy in the literal sense of the term. The reporter more acutely feels the harsh living conditions of homeless life (the winter, a drop of
The reports are more numerous in the districts of eastern Paris, where the population is less wealthy than in the west and center. Presumably, these are the areas that have the most homeless people, notably because of the day and night shelters therein. The closeness could again be a factor explaining reports: here, it would be the social and spatial proximity between the reporter and the reported.
The qualitative study refines the understanding of the reports. Any report appears as the result of a moral solicitation, based on the perception of an unusual phenomenon.
This can manifest as a disturbance in a familiar environment. This person, well known, seems significantly less well than usual. Concern switches to a report.
The unusual can also reflect a disagreeing perception in the course of a programmed action. Back from a pleasant evening, anyone could meet a person in poor shape. The unexpected calls out, more in terms of the unacceptable than guilt, and leads to a report.
This abnormality may be lastly understood as the reminder of a scandal: the very presence of homeless people in a society that could afford to avoid it. The report is thus like a quasi-militant gesture of quiet indignation and effective protest.
