Mobissimo

Seems the non-profit, Doctors of the World, gave away free tents to homeless people in Paris last December. As a result, tent cities sprouted up all across the city, especially along the Seine and evidently a citizenry that has no problem wading through mountains of doo poo on every corner has taken offense at the unsightly tents and have flooded city hall with complaints:

Tent camps have become a familiar sight in Paris since the aid group Doctors of the World, or Medecins du Monde, first distributed tents in December to shelter the homeless and make their plight less invisible.

But complaints about the tents have been pouring into City Hall, and four tents were burned this weekend in circumstances that are still unclear. With Paris sweltering in a heat wave, authorities say the tents are unsanitary and dangerous.

[snip]

France, with a population of nearly 63 million, has about 86,500 homeless people, according to a landmark 2001 study by the INSEE statistics agency. The Abbe Pierre Foundation, which works with the homeless, said this year that the figure is closer to 150,000.

The government fears the tents give people a reason to stay on the streets, expose them to sanitation problems and encourage them to live in groups -- a problem because it is harder to persuade them to get help.

"The government's objective in this affair is simple: no more tents," said Benoist Apparu, communications official for the Ministry of Social Cohesion. "Not because we don't like tents, but because the problem with them is that we have enough trouble as it is getting people off the street, persuading them to move to a shelter or a rehabilitation center."

Paris should do what cold states in the U.S. have been doing for years. Giving homeless one way bus tickets to California. But in this case, send them to Nice or better yet, Spain. Anyhoot, with hotel prices among the highest in the world, why not consider bringing a tent and pitching it along the others in a sign of solidarity with Paris's homeless and saving a few bucks in the process. Via Boston Globe.