Created in 2011, the Lazare association meets the needs of isolated and excluded homeless people. It helps them find a roof over their heads, kindness and a path to reintegration. The association, which is found in many French and European cities, wants to roll out its model more widely.

Offering shared apartments

The street is an abyss from which it is very hard to escape. Emergency housing is only a temporary solution. It does not help homeless people get off the street and re-enter society.

The Lazare association offers them not just a roof, but place to live with others, feel good about themselves and patiently rebuild their lives. The apartments bring volunteers and formerly homeless people together. Sharing, mutual aid and human warmth are at the heart of the project.

Offering street people a "family life"

The residents split the rent, provide a community service and break bread at a weekly meal. They can stay as long as they want, but the goal is complete reintegration in independent housing.

Eighty-five percent of the people who leave Lazare have found housing and nearly 40% have found a job. What’s more, 95% say they were happy or very happy living at Lazare.

The foundation’s support

The Bettencourt Schueller Foundation backs the association’s efforts to speed up its growth and roll out its model on a wider scale. It believes that solidarity and intergenerational shared housing are sustainable responses to the loneliness and precariousness of people living on the streets.

Grants for solidarity

Promoting a society in which everyone finds their place.

See all projects in the field of Solidarity