According to a study by the University of Applied Sciences of Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW) undertaken between 2020 and 2022, there are large differences in homelessness between French-speaking Switzerland and the rest of the country. At a regional level, subsaharan Africans (19%), north Africans (22%) and eastern Europeans (24%) made up nearly two thirds (65%) of Switzerland’s homeless. Certain Swiss cities had far higher homelessness rates than others. Widely different rates of those of undocumented status among the homeless point to why there are so many more homeless in French-speaking Switzerland. In an interview with RTS, Belser said, for example, people from North Africa tend to target French-speaking cities where they have links with members of their diaspora.
