Let’s face it that homelessness is a growing phenomenon worldwide. The homeless are not at all an attractive people. No doubt, it is hard to be around them. They look frightening, they smell bad, and they most often want something from you. They make you uncomfortable, fearful and, yes, guilty at the same time.

However, the problem, rather a scourge, is a burgeoning global phenomenon, but, the crux revolves round common aspect: Poverty, the lack of finances, and little hope. The problem of homelessness is far from solved, as affordable housing is always a hotly debated issue by governments in the developed world, just forget the developing worlds where government use the suffering of their people as pawns in the international arena.

But as it makes its presence at the doorsteps of the most developed countries of the world like the United States, where figures are quite high and most strikingly France, with its well-funded social services, it’s really scaring. However, the French government statistics bureau estimated the number of people living without a fixed address at 86,000 for all of France in 2004, about equal to the number of homeless in Los Angeles alone.

The declarations on human settlements, housing advocates, the UN Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, and many more charities ring the alarm bells and even try to encourage the homeless to move on, even offering to pay their transportation and put a few dollars in their pockets. But, are these efforts mitigating the problems. Surely not, it only shuffles it about, thereby creating a notion that the sticky situation is going to be more stifling.

Surely, this is a familiar argument. When you put it together with the fact that developed countries are systematically dismantling their welfare system and withdrawing subsidies, coupled with increasing investment and speculation in the [real estate] market, it’s quite clear the number of homeless people in rich countries will continue to increase.

I repeat - rich countries - forget about developed and poor countries, which apparently don’t have the sinews to ponder on the gravity of the issue and perhaps look quite pleased under the sky. The high-energy consumption in these countries, especially US, has fuelled up global interest rates, effecting mortgage rates consequently and hitting mainly the middle class who are left with little means to buy a house.

The spark initiated by the French middle-class when hundreds of people emerged from tents beside this city’s Canal Saint-Martin to greet the chilly New Year with a hot lunch from a nearby soup kitchen. But not all of them were homeless. The demonstration has drawn enough media attention and this is the right kind of effort to increase pressure on politicians. The protest has started to spread to other French cities, and no wonder it will reach other corners of the world.

Read: Middle-class protesters join sleep-in on behalf of French homeless