Since August 5, 2025, nearly 200 homeless people, including 90 children, had been sleeping every night on the square in front of Paris City Hall, due to a lack of emergency accommodation places. Led by Utopia 56, the action denounced the summer shortage, exacerbated by school and gymnasium closures, the slowdown in public services and the lack of volunteers. The health situation was deteriorating rapidly, exacerbated by the return of hot weather.
A week later, some 350 people were occupying the site. On the morning of Tuesday August 12, they were calmly evacuated by the police, following a prefectoral order citing risks to public health, waste management and several assaults. Nearly 30 vehicles were mobilized. Accommodation was offered only in the regions (Marseille, Toulouse, Bourges, Besançon), but was deemed unsuitable by the majority, who preferred to stay in Paris. According to Le Parisien, only women over eight months pregnant and those with children under three years of age were taken in by the city.
According to Utopia 56, the situation remains unchanged. Most of the evacuees will continue to sleep outside, with no lasting solution, or will have to choose between leaving Paris and losing their bearings, or staying with no idea where to spend the night.
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