21 Aug 2019

Seventh homeless person dies in Tahiti this year

10:51 am on 21 August 2019

A seventh homeless person has died in Tahiti this year.

French Polynesian charity Te Vaiete said the 50-year-old man died in hospital in Papeete.

Two weeks ago, the charity reported the death of another homeless man and highlighted that the rate of homelessness in Tahiti was five times higher than in France.

It also said promises made by the government a year ago to build shelters had come to nothing, and social housing remained in short supply.

The former head of the Human Rights League has decried the indifference of politicians, saying it pointed to the homeless problem in a report 15 years ago, but nobody acted on it.