Red Tents in Paris

In December 2006, The French anti-poverty organization Children of Don Quixote, began using Red tents as a symbol to draw attention to the plight of the homeless in Paris. The organization launched the campaign to coincide with a French national election. The tents were used as a visual reminder that there were over 100,000 people who were homeless in France and that shelter did not have adequate space available for all those in need and that shelters are not a substitute for long-term housing.  

In the months leading up to the protest, Children of Don Quixote founder Augustin Legrand spent time seeking out and interviewing those who were living outdoors without proper shelter.  The stories he collected were posted to The Children of Don Quixote website and people who read them or watched videos of interviews were encouraged to join the protest.  Many Parisians did. Over 200 red tents lined the Canal Saint Martin for three months and during this time many other cities in France saw similar protests take place.

The campaign gained widespread public support and homelessness became an election issue that political leaders were forced to address. The mayor of Paris endorsed the campaign and leaders of all major French political parties signed the Chartre du Canal Saint Martin which was developed during the protest.  The Chartre called for recognition of housing as a legally enforceable right, an end to temporary shelter and new affordable public housing.   In the end the French government announced the creation of 27,000 new shelter beds across the country and introduced improvements to already existing shelters, they also guaranteed that a new law recognizing housing as a right would be passed.