French President Emmanuel Macron has promised the 2024 Olympic Games will showcase the splendor of Paris. However, to fulfill that promise, the French government reportedly wants to keep Paris’ homeless problem out of view. The government is allegedly considering bussing thousands of homeless migrants out of the city and into other towns ahead of the Olympic Games on July 26.
The New York Times reported that around 5,000 people have been evicted under the program over the past year.
Macron’s administration said that the program is voluntary and has denied that the effort is connected to the Olympics. Paris is currently dealing with an emergency housing shortage and the city’s homeless population sits at 100,000 people, which is around half of the homeless population in France.
However, a Paris government official seemed to contradict Macron’s assertion that the evictions are not related to the upcoming 2024 Games. In an email to a French newspaper, the official said the goal is to “identify people on the street in sites near Olympic venues and remove them before the Games.”
Beginning last year, police raids on homeless encampments and abandoned building increased.
The city maintains that it relocates the homeless and provides them with housing in other cities. However, many migrants told The New York Times that they were lured into the program with the promise of housing and social services only to discover that the process could lead to deportation.
Others interviewed by the Times said that they never knew the program was voluntary given that they were surrounded by police with the offer to relocate.
After arriving in their new cities, relocated individuals live in shelters temporarily and are screened for asylum. Several, however, have instead received deportation orders. Those eligible can receive long-term housing but around 60% of people are denied.
The chance of deportation has lawyers advising people not to get on the buses and instead to take their chances on the streets.
