DOUCHES POUR TOUS? SE LAVER À LYON, ENTRE RARÉFACTION ET INADAPTATION D'UNE OFFRE SOCIALE EXTERNALISÉE.

This article looks at the issues involved in outsourcing access to showers in Lyon. Looking at the case of a large city where there is only one public bath, the article explores the effects of the provision of access to hygiene by day shelters for homeless people, voluntary organizations frequented by the homeless and subsidized by the public authorities. This case study illustrates the wider dynamics affecting local social policies, where public action is being reconfigured by privatization and taken over by large philanthropic or religious organizations. Access to showers, which is central to the lives of homeless people, has been reduced by this process of outsourcing. The way the space is organized shows the lesser importance attached to showers compared with other day shelters services. Access to these showers, like their upkeep, is also subject to constantly precarious working arrangements, relying on social workers whose working conditions are under pressure and in the presence of volunteers who are essential to the running of the facilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]