The charitable association takes stock of the health crisis, with the arrival of new audiences like single women of over 50 years in activity, and a deterioration of the “remains to be lived” once the constrained expenses have been carried out. A very disturbing situation in a context of inflation.
by Claire Ané
We will call her Carole. Aged 59, she lives in Brittany, and did not think of one day crossing the Porte du Secours Catholique to ask for help. Former manager of management, who has become exhibitor on salons, she does not extend over her situation, and does not wish to be recognized. But she wants to testify: from the health crisis linked to the COVID-19 and confinements, which suddenly made her professional activity disappear, without the safety net of unemployment benefits since she was a self-employed worker; And above all “listening and support, moral and financial” that the association offered to her when she crossed a family drama. Since then, a health problem prevents her from resuming the salons, and she may sometimes get job interviews, she is “always too competent enough for the position”. She lives with 497.5 euros of RSA, making “very, very attention”. She has never used food aid before, and hopes to be able to stick to it.
Secours Catholique welcomed 75 % of new people during the COVVI-19 crisis. In his annual report, published Thursday, November 17, he indicates that single women like Carole, without dependent children, often in activity and aged over 50, came more numerous in 2020, victims of a sudden degradation of their income, not offset by emergency aid. Many stayed in 2021, a sign that their situation did not restore enough. The share of long -term unemployed has increased. Foreigners, and even more those with unstable legal status, prohibited from working and little helped by the State, also had an increased need for support during the health crisis. They now represent 47 % of adults welcomed. Over the same period, isolated mothers, who represent a quarter of the households encountered by the association, have asked it less, probably because they benefited from specific state aid. Their income nevertheless fell backwards from their level then.
Overall, “Times have become even more difficult for the poorest in 2021”, summarizes the president of Secours Catholique, Véronique Comoté. The share of households encountered living below the extreme poverty line, that is to say with less than 755 euros per month, increased from 66 % to 69 %. 22 % were not having any resources. The children, who represent half of the people welcomed, were particularly affected: 30 % of the under 5 lives in 2021 in a home without resources, up 2 points compared to 2020.
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