PRESS RELEASE
11 February 2025
Communication to the Senate Finance Committee
ROLES, FUNDING AND STATE OVERSIGHT OF
ASSOCIATIONS INVOLVED IN IMMIGRATION AND
INTEGRATION POLICY
The State is responsible for the reception, accommodation and integration of foreign
nationals. The General Directorate for Foreign Nationals (DGEF) of the ministry of the
interior is responsible for steering this policy. In the execution of its mandate, it relies mainly
on a public administrative institution under its supervision, the French Office for
Immigration and Integration (Ofii). However, in practice, it is external service providers,
mainly in the form of associations, financed by the DGEF or by the Ofii, who are responsible
for the accommodation and social support of asylum seekers and refugees. This
investigation is being carried out at the request of the Chairman of the Senate Finance
Committee and covers the financial years 2019 to 2023, for mainland France and the
overseas territories. The scope of the investigation was limited to the social support and
integration activities of associations funded by the
Immigration, Asylum and Integration
programme. It aims to draw up a map of the schemes and funding and also analyses the
steering, monitoring and control exercised by the State for the implementation of these
actions.
It is mainly associations that provide the various support services offered to foreign
nationals depending on their administrative status
New arrivals who wish to settle on a long-term basis benefit from measures to integrate them
into society, which take the form of the signing of a Republican Integration Contract (
Contrat
d’intégration républicaine, CIR
). This process includes four days of civic training on the values
of the Republic and, for those who do not have level A1 in French, language training. For their
part, asylum seekers receive support in their efforts to obtain international protection. Those
who obtain it, namely refugees, benefit not only from the CIR, but also from enhanced support
centred on housing and employment. Finally, the administration can restrict the freedom of
foreign nationals in an irregular situation by placing them in detention; they then have access
to legal assistance. The public procurement contracts of the OFII finance actions related to the
CIR, as well as the social support provided in the initial reception centres for asylum seekers
(SPADA) to non-housed asylum seekers. For its part, the DGEF funds support activities through
grants for individuals housed in facilities intended for asylum seekers, as well as support in
administrative detention centres, and certain targeted integration schemes for groups not
covered by the Republican Integration Contract, most often through decentralised funding. In
all cases, the bodies providing the support are mainly associations.
Funding for associations: rising expenses, only partly explained by the change in the flows
of foreign nationals
The funding allocated under the Immigration, Asylum and Integration programme is used to
finance measures for asylum seekers and refugees (programme 303) as well as initiatives aimed
at integrating new arrivals (programme 104). This funding increased by 23 % between 2019 and
2023, reaching €2.3 billion. In 2023, according to the Court's estimate, €263 million was
allocated to associations for the support of housed asylum seekers and refugees, an increase of
45.5 % since 2019, with a cost per accommodation place of more than €3,000, an increase of
36 %. Support for non-housed asylum seekers has been estimated at €16 million, or €148.4 per
person per year. With regard to the integration of new arrivals, 57 % of spending (€76.3 million
in 2023, +114 % since 2019) was devoted to the Republican Integration Contract (CIR), with a
cost per signatory of €1,032 (+ 68 %). Finally, the other funding under programme 104,
managed by the DGEF and the prefectures, has risen sharply (€86.5 million, +121 % since 2019).
The increase in unit costs is due to the intensification of activities (reform of the CIR) and to a
beneficiary profile requiring more support.
The roles of the associations: services requiring more precise definition in the field of
asylum and better coordination in the field of integration
Analysis of the specifications and calls for projects shows that the State and OFII do not precisely
define the support roles, the skills required and, in the accommodation structures, the
necessary staff-to-resident ratio. In particular, there is no common frame of reference (tasks
and average time required) for support. As with housing, the frequent use of grants gives the
State little control over the content and monitoring of the services provided. The possibilities in
this area should be increased by the gradual conversion of certain accommodation facilities into
medico-social establishments. Furthermore, in the field of integration, the services offered
within the framework of the CIR and those financed by the decentralised funding under
programme 104 may overlap, due to a lack of coordination between decentralised departments
and regional branches of the OFII. Lastly, the low level of competition in certain territories,
particularly for Ofii contracts, limits cost control.
Unequal oversight mechanisms, which need to be strengthened particularly in the area of
asylum
The oversight of associations is carried out in different ways. The OFII has introduced a rigorous
methodology for auditing its public contracts, in particular the Republican Integration Contract
(CIR) and the initial reception of asylum seekers, with regular on-site inspections. Although they
reveal instances of non-compliance, penalties are rare, with corrective measures generally
being implemented. On the other hand, the accommodation providers for asylum seekers and
the associations receiving decentralised integration funding are subject to occasional and
informal checks, particularly with regard to support services. This landscape is changing: the
DGEF has initiated a promising approach with the
Agir scheme
, which is intended to provide
comprehensive support for refugees through to housing and employment, the impact of which
remains to be assessed. In addition, language support under the Republican Integration
Contract needs to be reconsidered in light of the law of 26 January 2024, which will apply from
2026 and requires certified language proficiency to obtain a first multi-year residence permit.
Read the report
PRESS CONTACT:
Julie Poissier
■
Communications Director
■
+33 (0)6 87 36 52 21
■
julie.poissier@ccomptes.fr