Relational Networks of Persons in a Situation of Housing Insecurity in France. Homelessness and Strength or Weakness of Social Ties

This article focuses on the family, friends—and in some cases the social worker—of persons in a situation of housing insecurity in France. Drawing on INSEE’s 2012 “Sans domicile” [Homeless] survey and an ethnographic study of applicants for social housing units at the Paris social housing office, it shows how homelessness or housing insecurity may initially be caused by a lack of family support which then further isolates the persons in question. It goes on to analyze how people go about applying for social housing—as this is the main strategy for escaping homelessness in France—and the role of social and family ties in that undertaking. Getting on to the waiting list for a social housing unit in France seems to imply being integrated into a network that is both relational (family, friends, compatriots) and institutional (social workers). Mothers play a crucial, combative role here, their primary concern being to recreate or reassemble the family household. By contrast, individuals without such a network do not claim their right to social housing in spite of their need. Housing deprivation is therefore the result not only of poverty but also of losing the protection that family, social ties and institutions can provide