In France, certain legal provisions have been put in place that may affect the homeless, such as the prohibition of certain forms of begging and drunkenness in public, though the rationale behind these provisions was to preserve public order.
French law however, does permit local government to create certain measures against the homeless, by strengthening the effects of national statutes where they are justified due to certain local circumstances.
As to the definition of “homeless”: There is no definition of a homeless person under French law. INSEE’s definition: “A person is considered as homeless if she lives in a place not designed for accommodation or if a charitable organisation provides housing to her for free or for a minimal fee.”
Some comments on travelling (or itinerant) people: Article 2 of the Law n° 63‑3 of 3 January 1969 (the “Law n° 63‑3”) defines “travelling people” or “travellers” as “individuals having no domicile or any permanent home for more than six months in a Member State of the European Union”. Thus, although travelling people don’t have any permanent home, they have access to temporary housing and are subject to a specific regime under Law n° 63‑3. Therefore we have decided not to take this category of the population into account in our research.
