经济学人:斥巨资收留流浪汉 法国政府做错了什么

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　　法国的流浪者问题

　　Down and out in Paris

　　露宿巴黎街头的流浪汉们

　　Tolerance¹ has its limits

　　包容的底限

　　Sundy nights in Paris are busy on the northern tip of the Canal Saint-Martin. On either side of the water, two groups form long ordered queues, albeit² for different reasons. One queue is for those hoping to buy something to eat from a new gourmet³ hamburger truck (hour-long waits are normal). The other queue, almost all young North African men, is for those hoping to find a seat on a bus to a homeless shelter on the outskirts⁴ of the city.

　　周日夜晚，巴黎的圣马丁运河北面热闹非凡。运河的两岸，动机不一的两组人井然有序地排着长队。其中一组人是为了从一家新开的美食汉堡车上购买食品（为此排上几个小时的队毫无稀奇）。而另一组几乎全是北非男性，他们的目的是为了坐上一辆开往城郊流浪者之家的巴士。

　　Paris is no stranger to such contrasts. Luxury and penury⁵ have always coexisted there in uneasy tension. But now a growing number of homeless are stretching the limits of the city’s generosity⁶.

　　此般鲜明对比在巴黎早已习以为常。奢华和贫困两种现象一直以来都并存于这个城市，其紧张关系也令人不安。而今，随着流浪者数量的激增，巴黎包容的底限正不断被拉长。

　　“It is easier to be homeless in Paris than any other city in the European Union,” says Julien Damon, a sociologist⁷ at Sciences Po, a university. Paris is a magnet for the transient. Parisian police are more tolerant of the homeless than those in other European cities and rarely trouble rough sleepers⁹—an approach that has deep cultural roots. In European surveys French respondents are the most likely to see homelessness as a product of unemployment and the least likely to see it as the result of drug or alcohol addiction¹⁰.

　　“比起欧盟其他城市，巴黎更容易滋生流浪汉。”巴黎政治大学（Sciences Po）的社会学家朱利安·达蒙（Julien Damon）说道。巴黎吸引了大量流动人口。而巴黎警方对于流浪汉的态度，也比欧洲其他城市的要包容得多，几乎从不为难那些流浪汉。这一态度深刻在其文化之中。在诸多欧洲诸国的记者调查中，在法国流浪的主因通常是失业，而非吸毒或酗酒。

　　Nobody knows how many homeless there are in Paris. Data collection is meagre and infrequent. The last meaningful estimate by INSEE, France’s national statistics office, dates from the mid¹¹ 2000s and pegged¹² the number, including those sleeping rough or in emergency shelters on any given night at around 12,000. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the number is considerably¹³ higher today. Despite a big expansion in shelter capacity since 2004, demand still outstrips¹⁴ supply. Calls to an emergency number run by Samusocial de Paris, a government-funded charity that allocates¹⁵ beds in emergency shelters, doubled between 2009 and 2010.

　　巴黎流浪汉的具体数字无人知晓。因为这些数据收集得很少，开展频率也很低。法国统计局（INSEE）最近一项较有意义的数据统计始于2005年左右。据该统计数据显示，街头与庇护所的流浪汉都包括在内，每晚流浪人数约在12000左右。而根据一些非正规数据，现今的流浪人数要比其高得多。2004年以来，专供流浪者的庇护所容量扩大了不少，但仍然供不应求。Samusocial de Paris是一家专为流浪者安排临时住所的公立慈善机构。该机构在2009年至2010年间接到的紧急电话数相比过去翻了一番。

　　The faces of the homeless are changing too. Twenty years ago, the typical homeless person in Paris was likely to be a single, middle-aged¹⁶ French man. Now, the homeless are more likely to be younger, with a family and foreign-born. Interpreters have become indispensable figures at most Paris soup kitchens. Joint¹⁷ patrols of French and Romanian police, each officer wearing his own national uniform, help deal with an influx¹⁸ of Roma from eastern Europe.

　　与此同时，这些流浪者也在改头换面。20年前，巴黎流浪汉的代表一般都是未婚的中年法籍男性。而今，流浪汉趋于年轻化，并常带有家属或外国籍。在巴黎的众多施粥场（向穷人免费开放的食堂）翻译成了不可或缺的职业。而法国和罗马尼亚的警察则分别穿着自己国家的制服，在巴黎街头巡逻，应付大批来自东欧的吉普赛人。

　　“Our problem is too much bureaucracy and centralisation,” explains Mr Damon. Dealing¹⁹ with homelessness, he argues, should be the exclusive responsibility of the Paris city council. Instead, at least 12 different government bodies are charged with caring for the homeless in Paris.

　　“我们面临的问题是政府过度的官僚化和集权化。”达蒙表示。他又称，解决流浪汉问题应是巴黎市议会独自承担的义务。但相反的是，巴黎政府中至少有12个不同部门在负责这一问题。

　　Overlapping²⁰ responsibility means duplication. Paris has three separate publicly funded groups that transport homeless people to shelters. Some complain about being woken up over the course of an evening by different homeless services. Philippe Redom, a 56-year-old rough sleeper⁸ and former chef, prefers to remain in his alcove²¹ outside an office block. The shelters are “too big and there is no privacy”.

　　义务重叠则说明工作重叠。巴黎市有三家独立的公立组织负责安排流浪汉留宿。而一些流浪者抱怨称，一个晚上会被多个流浪者服务机构给吵醒。Philippe Redom是一名56岁的流浪汉，之前曾担当过厨师。他表示宁可呆在壁凹里，也不愿去留宿处，因为那些地方“太大了，没有一点隐私。”

　　As spaces in shelters are in short supply Paris rents hotel rooms. A report in 2011 by the Cour des Comptes, France’s national auditor²², warily²³ noted²⁴ that more than 90% of the Samusocial’s annual budget of 116m ($150m) went to hotels. In September the French government announced 50m in emergency spending on housing the homeless in Paris.

　　由于那些留宿处供应紧俏，巴黎政府开始向旅馆租借房间。法国国家审计法院（Cour des Comptes）于2011年做了一份报告，报告中谨慎地指出，慈善机构Samusocial年均预算额为1.16亿欧元（约1.5亿美元），其中90%以上都花在了旅馆开支上。同时，法国政府于今年九月对外声称，在紧急安排巴黎流浪者们住宿上，其开销高达5000万欧元。

　　Some of those funds would be better spent on collecting better data, yet the most useful fix would be for rough sleepers to go closer to the top of the queue for permanent public housing, as happens in London with good results. The problem is not just that there are not enough houses, but also that the wrong people tend to get them. However welcoming the streets of Paris, the homeless would do better with a roof over their heads.

　　这些资金若花费在改善数据收集上，将会更有意义。但是目前，流浪者问题最为有效的解决手段还是让更多人长期进入公共住所，这一政策已在伦敦得到施行，并取得颇佳的成果。但问题并非在于住所不足，而是其现居者并非最为需要者。然而，这些流浪汉们很喜爱巴黎大街，露宿街头对他们来说或许更为快活。 翻译：沈骜

　　1.homeless shelter 收容所

　　例句:Is there a homeless shelter in this town?

　　这个镇上有为无家可归者提供的避难所吗？

　　2.alcohol addiction 酗酒

　　例句:Untreated drug and alcohol addiction also make it hard for a couple to repair a bad marriage.

　　无药可救的沉迷毒品和酒精也会使挽救婚姻变得异常困难。

　　3.emergency shelter 紧急避难所

　　例句:The structure was a designated emergency shelter.

　　教堂结构被设计成一个紧急避难所。

　　4.soup kitchen 救济站

　　例句:I have volunteered at soup kitchens, retirement²⁵ homes, public libraries and parks.

　　我在救济站、养老院，公共图书馆和公园都做过志愿者。

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