Number of homeless children rises by 6% compared to 2024
More than 2,000 children are sleeping on the streets of France as the 2025 school year begins, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said Thursday.
At least 2,159 children are currently without shelter in France, according to a barometer issued by UNICEF France, the Federation of Solidarity Actors (FAS) and the Collective of Associations for Housing (CAL).
Among them, 503 are under the age of 3, the report found.
The figure marks a 6% increase in child homelessness compared to 2024 and a 30% rise since 2022.
"Every year, we witness with outrage that a growing number of children are sleeping on the streets, exposed to degrading living conditions and daily dangers. Yet our organizations put forward clear recommendations and propose concrete, effective and realistic solutions,” said Adeline Hazan, president of UNICEF France.
“What is cruelly lacking today is neither resources nor expertise, but rather the firm political will to put an end to the unacceptable,” she added.
