victory in france

French campaigners scored a resounding victory after a protest which roped in lots of well-heeled Parisians shamed the government into making housing a legal, enforceable right.
It was a penniless but determined actor who managed to persuade Chirac and his henchmen to do what charities have been trying to achieve for years: namely build enough shelters for individuals and families who have no roof over their heads.
The decision will now put pressure on other European governments.
Figures show that in England alone, 93,000 families are housed in temporary accomodation, ie shelters, flea-ridden bed and breakfasts and on other people's floors.
Manchester Council claims there are just seven rough sleepers in the city yet I saw dozens more with my own eyes at the Christmas drop-in centre. Their problems are manifold and range from the obvious to the ridiculous. Just today a Big Issue vendor told me he had been reimbursed some court fines - paid by error - by cheque yet does not have a bank account and does not possess enough ID to open one.
In France, Augustin Legrand, 31, set up a website and issued tents to 300 homeless people, forming an encampment in a fashionable suburb of Paris and inviting residents to join them for a night.
His protest tactics, devised after living rough in order to make a documentary about homelessness, quickly spread around other French cities, putting huge pressure on the government. Yesterday it announced an emergency programme to open 27,000 new places in shelters for those most in need.
Here's hoping that something similar is done in the UK soon.