• The Paris town hall is urging the State to trigger the extreme cold plan in Île-de-France.
• This is not done by the prefecture, which claims to be “widely” mobilized.

A “dramatic” situation. This Friday, December 26, Paris City Hall called on the State to trigger the extreme cold plan “without delay.” It has already been activated by several prefectures (new window), but not in Île-de-France, which is not placed on yellow “very cold” alert, according to the latest Météo-France bulletin (new window).

“In Paris, the temperatures have been very cold for several days and are likely to last,” nevertheless underlines in a press release the city of Paris, which “solemnly asks the State to open the extreme cold plan, and to take all the necessary measures to shelter the most vulnerable people”. The extreme cold plan allows for an extension of the opening hours of day centers, an increase in patrols and the requisition of places to open emergency accommodation places. “There is an urgent need to act” in view of the “numerous alerts” emanating from the marauders on the presence of homeless people “transformed by the cold” in recent days, according to the town hall.

Nearly 17,000 places open

Asked by AFP, the Île-de-France prefecture assured that it had been “widely” mobilized from December 23, “in conjunction with operators and social monitoring actors”, “to intensify support for the public in street situations”. “When the conditions for activating the extreme cold plan are met in Paris, it will be immediately triggered by the regional prefect of Île-de-France, prefect of Paris,” she said.

“In total, nearly 16,900 places are opened by state services every night at the moment in Paris to accommodate the most vulnerable people on the street,” underlined the Île-de-France prefecture. “There were 210 new family members who called 115 yesterday who were able to be accommodated” on Thursday evening, continued the regional prefecture, adding that “more than 20 marauders” had gone to help the homeless on Friday.

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“The marauders have nowhere to shelter people, it’s dramatic,” Léa Filoche, deputy to the socialist mayor Anne Hidalgo in charge of solidarity, told AFP. “Many empty places” could be requisitioned by the State such as the former military hospital of Val-de-Grâce in the Latin Quarter, according to the elected official, who denounces the “serious disengagement of the State for which the town hall is replacing as best it can”.

“In total, the city of Paris shelters more than 1,400 people whose care is the responsibility of the State”, in 6 gymnasiums and 8 municipal buildings (former schools, nurseries or colleges), she explains. “The town hall will push the walls as of this (Friday) evening, but that will only create a few dozen places, it is well below the needs,” regretted Léa Filoche, stressing that more than 3,500 people sleeping on the street had been recorded during the last Solidarity Night at the beginning of 2025.

IN with AFP