Paris homeless take advantage of baggage service

Dec 31, 2009, 13:32 GMT

Paris - His life's possessions fit in a suitcase, a backpack and a few plastic bags - hardly anything compared with people who have a fixed residence, but a lot for someone who has to carry it around all day.

'Heavens, it was a strange feeling the first time I was able to leave the stuff,' said Jean-Luc, a 38-year-old homeless man living in Paris. 'I felt so light.'

For the past several months he has dropped off his bags at a baggage service set up near the Les Halles shopping centre that allows him to store his possessions in a place where no-one will disturb them. It is the only such service for homeless people in Paris and it is open daily all year-round from 8 pm until 10 pm and from 7 am until 9 am.

'People on the street who have baggage and a sleeping bag with them are immediately stigmatised as homeless,' said Philippe, an old man whose broad smile reveals a gap in his teeth. 'You can't go in anywhere to warm up, not even to McDonald's,' he said. 'It's burdensome to carry everything you own with you all the time.'

Finding a job is as good as impossible when there is no place to store one's possessions. Before the baggage storage service was established Philippe and other homeless people took turns looking after each other's things, but there was often theft. And trying to keep the items safe while sleeping also is problematic.

'You don't sleep well overnight when you are afraid of your things being stolen,' Philippe added.

The baggage service offers 50 compartments, which are meant first and foremost for homeless people in the section of the city it is in.

'We want to give people back their mobility,' said Elisabeth Bourguinat, director of the baggage service. Many people come twice a day. 'They leave their sleeping bag in the morning and overnight they leave their valuables,' she said. They can change their clothes and repack their bags in a small room off to the side.

Since it opened in 2007 about 1,000 homeless people have used the service. There is no time limit for picking up their items.

'If they could only get rid of their baggage for a while, it wouldn't be much help,' said Bourguinat. Turnover is low and there have been some success stories among the community of users. More than 30 homeless people, for example, have found a job or a place to live.

Pascal is one of them. The 39-year-old lost his job and his apartment one-and-a-half years ago. Since then he has been spending the night at Charles de Gaulle Airport. Thanks to the baggage service, he was able to take on jobs and he was preparing to sign a work contract and perhaps soon be able to afford an apartment again.

The baggage service gets by on a tiny budget. The city provides the room and donations occasionally come in. Volunteers, including some homeless people who use the service, work there. They stay at the facility after dropping off their bags and clean and tidy up. It gives them time to warm themselves and have something to eat and drink.

'We are not social workers,' said Bourguinat. 'We simply offer a concrete service and a little human warmth.' That alone is a lot.