A Solidarity Pact to combat precariousness at La Défense

On Friday March 21, 2025, the Local Solidarity Pact was signed with the Hauts-de-Seine Prefecture, the towns of Courbevoie and Puteaux and the associations La Maison de l'Amitié and Humanity Diaspo. The aim of the pact is to support three projects run respectively by Paris La Défense, La Maison de l'Amitié and Humanity Diaspo to help people in extremely precarious situations in the business district.

The Pacte des Solidarités is a new initiative to support people in precarious situations in the Paris La Défense area. It will enable the implementation of experiments and concrete actions to support people in difficulty in the business district.

While the business district is renowned for its high-rise towers and office buildings, many people living in extremely precarious conditions lurk in the basements, technical rooms and parking lots. In 2022, a social diagnosis carried out by the public institution estimated that 170 people were living in public spaces under the slab. The Maison de l'Amitié, for its part, which has been established in the business district for many years, counts 200 people a day who come to eat or benefit from the association's support services.

In response to this situation, a number of initiatives have been undertaken by the associations and the public institution for several years. This Pact is a new tool in the fight against precariousness.

The Local Solidarity Pact will support three projects and their actions:

• La Maison de l'Amitié will organize bare-handed outreach campaigns once or twice a week to meet isolated people in extremely precarious situations, to recreate links, introduce them to the association or direct them to social workers.
• Établissement public Paris La Défense, in conjunction with TNS médiation, a company already present in Courbevoie and certain residential areas of La Défense (Les Damiers, Corolles, Reflets and Iris), has launched a one-year experiment in local social mediation for the homeless. Four urban mediators will be on duty until 8 p.m., talking to homeless people and directing them to associations such as Maison de l'Amitié, the Red Cross, ASD and CCAS. These mediators will also be called upon to manage conflict situations between homeless people and other users of the area. If the experiment proves successful, Paris La Défense will propose to local authorities that the scheme be made permanent.The Humanity Diaspo association will be setting up actions to benefit vulnerable women in precarious situations, such as single mothers, the homeless, refugees and victims of violence.
• The association will organize food, hygiene and baby product distributions thanks to local partners, as well as workshops on sexual health and socio-aesthetics. 

The pact is valid for one year. The project leaders will also lead a collective, open and articulated project to propose, among other things, enhanced accommodation, collective mediation, tools for identifying and mapping assistance services, and new reception services.

The Paris La Défense area is home to a vast network of associations working to combat poverty. The Maison de l'Amitié is part of the Réseau Solidarité La Défense, which also includes Entourage, La Cloche, the Association du site de La Défense and the Chaînon Manquant. The Maison de l'Amitié acts on several levels:

• The “grand café” every morning, the association's highlight;
• The day center, where homeless people can take a shower, wash their clothes or get help with administrative formalities;
• social gatherings, where isolated people can renew their social ties. 

Humanity Diaspo is a humanitarian NGO helping women and students.It is committed to combating women's insecurity, whether it be menstrual, hygienic or infantile.  Humanity Diaspo donates thousands of kits to associations for distribution to women in extremely precarious situations.