RTL Today – Luxembourg: A “no man’s land” for young people aged 18 to 25 in precarious situations
The director general of Caritas Luxembourg was the guest of RTL on Tuesday morning, he took stock of the worrying situation of the most vulnerable, especially young people.
Caritas assumes that at the moment several hundred people are on the streets in Luxembourg. Concrete figures do not exist, as regrets the director general of Caritas Marc Crochet who has been waiting for several years for the data promised by the authorities. It is based on the winter action “Wanteraktioun” which was enjoyed by more than 800 people last year.
In recent years, the NGO has noticed that mainly young people aged 18 to 25 are exposed to a significant risk of finding themselves on the street or in a precarious situation. Given the lack of reliable figures, the director general of Caritas speaks of a “trend”. The services or aid offered in Luxembourg are not suitable for young people: “we can speak of a “no man’s land” for young people aged 18 to 25, because below the age of 18, aid for minors is accommodated and the REVIS is only intended for people over 25“, laments Marc Crochet.
The structures offer a sufficient number of places but these services are not suitable for young people: “mixing them with people who have spent their whole lives on the street could influence them in the wrong way“, underlines the director general of Caritas. The NGO has also adapted its aid according to the evolution of the situation with an approach that does not require any conditions so that young people can benefit from housing. Luxembourg lacks cruelty of therapeutic niches as well as qualified personnel to take care of the people who need it the most.
According to Marc Crochet, a country like Luxembourg should not have the problem of homelessness: “more and more people are actually choosing this way of life, but many others have no choice. Other countries such as Finland are adopting models that first provide housing to people in need. They are then taken care of in a more stable environment. In this way, many emergency structures could be deactivated“.
Last subject mentioned during the interview, the rise in the price of energy which directly impacts the purchasing power of the most vulnerable citizens. Caritas wants targeted and targeted measures towards the people who need it most: “giving 100 euros to each household does not solve the problem“, specifies the DG of the NGO who proposes to increase the cost of living allowance in order to catch up with inflation. “A measure which will not however be able to counteract the effects of a crisis in Ukraine which has resulted in the explosion of gas prices. We could also consider temporarily lowering the VAT rate“, finally suggests Marc Crochet.