Practical. You know he’s home when it’s all piled up like that, because he’s under it. And it’s all flat and sad when he goes elsewhere.

So he’s at home in this picture, as you can see.

He? A guy who’s been living on this street, not far from my place, for the last three weeks. It’s a very busy downtown thoroughfare, complete with trams every three minutes and a busy two-way road as well. Maybe he feels less alone with people around him.

I took this picture at five pm Paris time, yesterday. The temperature was around zero. Five hours later it was minus three.

(Fact. there are a hundred thousand people without housing in France,) French only, sorry.

Most people I know think this should not be happening in 2008 in one of the most highly-developed countries in the world. These people include;
My neighbour, a 22 year-old law student, and three other student neighbours in my small apartment block. Then there’s Christine, divorced and a fierce advocate of housing for all. François, a computer programmer, finds all this very sad. Hazel, Isabelle, Michel and Dominique are also shocked by the homeless figures here in France.

And so am I. You too, probably.

And I know many more good-thinking people like us. Dozens of them, in fact.

But our sense of outrage at seeing people in this life-threatening situation (hundreds of homeless people will die of cold in France this winter) is not all we have in common.

The other thing we have in common is that the neighbors, Christine, François, Hazel, Isabelle, Michel, Dominique and all the others, including myself, are single.

This means that we live alone. And we all live alone in apartments or houses of at least 100 square meters and two bedrooms minimum.

It may seem hard to believe, but one third of houses or apartments here in France are occupied by only one person, and the figures go up every year. ONE THIRD! That means that at the end of 2007 there were 8.4 million under-used apartments or houses.

In fact, there are as many apartments or houses occupied by one person as there are occupied by two people. And this automatically means, of course, that only one third of housing here is occupied by three or more people (entire families). French only, sorry.

Think about it. We have a hundred thousand people out on the street, and a third of the country’s housing is under-occupied. Without counting the two-occupant households with several bedrooms!!

Wow!

So let’s get back to me and my friends. Why do we live alone?

Well, my student neighbor (and doubtless the other students in my block too) HATES the idea of being cooped up in a small place, and she likes to have spare bedrooms for friends, so daddy pays her this big apartment, to keep his little girl happy. Christine is divorced-like-everyone-else, and now feels that her “independence” is essential, and she feels good doing what she wants, when she wants, without being hassled by a man.

François is anti-social (but a good friend) and will probably never hook up in his life if he’s not careful. Hazel and Isabelle are professional women who don’t have time for permanent men, but need space for their lavish dinner parties. Same thing for Michel and Dominique, who, as men, also like inviting buddies (me included) to drink a few beers and change the world when they feel like it. And the list goes on.....

Me? Oh, I’m no better than they are. I’m taking a break from living with a girlfriend. I need space for my home recording studio too and my god daughter comes to stay often, as well as my friends, amongst them women, who fly by for a day or two from Berlin or Bordeaux on their way somewhere else. They all need privacy, of course. Also, I have had this place for years, so the rent is cheap because it’s inflation-linked and hasn’t been hiked up by the landlord.

In other words, we all live comfortable lifestyles and do what we want, because we are free citizens and value our independence in this modern world. Gone are the days of drudgery when people married early and had 2.5 kids and a dog and a goldfish and a family car and stayed together forever. Times change, and values change too.

But, and this is the point, these changing values are one of the causes of homelessness.

That’s why, paradoxically, although our parents, and society in general, had less money than we do, there were less homeless people too, because there were many more families and housing was mostly occupied by families. In fact when I was a kid, we would call the few homeless people to be seen “tramps”, a politically VERY incorrect term in these days of mass homelessness.

All this means that it’s hard to have to admit that our wonderfully modernist and emancipated principles and strong social consciences are one thing, but our real lives betray them. I mean no, I am not going to give up my spare bedroom to get a homeless person off the street.

I know what you may be thinking.

However...

...Before you condemn me as callous and indifferent, ask yourself this question.

When was the last time YOU took a homeless person off the street?

I thought so, so I guess you understand as well as I do that it is almost impossible to reconcile our high-and-mighty principles with our earthly actions.

Housing problem? Homeless problem? Listen. Given the way we live in today’s society, there will NEVER be enough money to house the 100 000 or more no-fixed-abode victims in this country. Period.

We live in a world where people isolate themselves more and more, a world in which more and more people feel they “need their own space”. And the economics of this social phenomena quite simply do not permit the building of two-or-more bedroom houses for each of us.

That’s the bottom line, like it or not. So we may as well get used to it as best we can.

Hard world? Yes. Very. And it’s getting harder.

Ask the guy under the Pile of Rags......

Michael C