Paris wants to remain a global tourism capital, but the visitor experience often begins on the pavement. Rough sleeping, poor cleanliness or a lack of professional intervention near stations, cash machines and hotels affects residents and visitors alike.
The problem is real, and the numbers need context
During Paris’s Solidarity Night in January 2025, the city counted 3,507 people sleeping rough. The figure does not cover every form of insecure housing, and it does not mean that every homeless person is dangerous. Causes include housing pressure, job loss, mental illness, addiction and complex administrative situations.
Why tourism is affected
Visitors judge the route from the airport to the hotel, the condition of pavements and stations, and whether public order is managed. People without homes must not be collectively portrayed as criminals. Yet harassment, violence, blocked entrances or unmanaged disorder can damage residents’ and visitors’ confidence.
What the next government should do
- Expand Housing First instead of moving people from one district to another.
- Provide faster mental-health and addiction care.
- Enforce clear rules against violence, harassment and obstruction.
- Expand mixed outreach teams combining social workers and municipal police.
- Coordinate the State, City, police, health and housing services.
- Protect children, stations and public entrances while providing real alternatives.
Can Paris become like Monaco?
Monaco is far smaller and operates under a different administrative and security model. Paris can learn from clear rules, cleanliness and rapid intervention, but it needs a solution suited to a major capital.
Editor’s message
Paris does not need blind severity, and it cannot afford denial. It needs a government that is firm on public order and serious about housing, treatment and dignity. People should not simply be displaced to another pavement, while residents and visitors should not be asked to accept disorder as inevitable.
The new Paris will not begin at the entrance of a luxury hotel, but on the pavement outside it.
Sources: City of Paris Housing First plan; Emergency accommodation; Zero children sleeping rough.
