Stories

This gentleman, living on the street, has a pretty cool connection with my dog Frida, and I can see that he even tends to wait for her. Last time, he prepared a Tupperware with croquettes just for her. To do this, he asked a friend who has a dog to give him some.

In 2023, several of our patients were incarcerated, for various reasons, and for a few weeks or months.

I chose an internship with Street Nurses to better understand the problems of homelessness, and everything related to it. I discovered political, social, financial, and structural problems. Above all, I wanted to understand the stories of homeless people - understand how they got into their condition, and at the same time decipher the system we live in.

This is a moment when my colleague and I seem to be witnessing the absence of human dignity, fear, sadness, anger. In reality that’s not so. The only thing that matters is the beauty of the moment.

It’s now almost a year and a half that I’ve been working in the housing team of Street Nurses. During this period, I’ve been able to assist many people in their personal journey, each of them with a remarkable, unique, and rich life course. Every patient I guide in their recovery process, will leave a mark on my mind, and will increase my knowledge about this world, this system and its shortcomings, about myself and my limits.

I am fortunate to have met Wonder Woman. Do you know her? She seems so strong to me; it's impossible for me to associate this small woman with any other name! How has this young lady managed to survive the hell of the streets for so many years? I don't have a clear answer to this question, but I am truly amazed by her courage and resilience in the face of such a destiny that thrust her into this life...

We are following a young person who lived for 2 years on the streets before being replaced by us into housing, after a report from a partner association.

We found a home for Mr N. a few months ago.
But even though he had visited the flat, put some money aside for the first rent and received the keys... he didn't go there.

Last week, we received a call from a citizen, Sandrine*, who was very worried about someone she had just met on her journey.

It was Mr. K., a patient we had been accompanying on the street for some time.

* Cover name

Our nurse Eva tells us the passionate story of Mrs P. and Mr T., while she was taking her first steps by Streetnurses. Her work began with marauding in the city streets and she was quickly led to follow a couple whose would turn out to be anything except ordinary...

We’ve accompanied Mr. N for several years now. Since he turned his back on street life, he’s been living in a very sober accommodation, barely decorated, which makes us think a bit of a prison cell. That’s because as a young man he was in prison for a while and that affects him still every day.

In this testimony, Lucia, a social worker, shares her first experience of rehousing by Street Nurses, when she was still a trainee. It ended in failure but it is a good illustration of the possible comings and goings before a sustainable reintegration of the homeless person.