World of HR: Some French companies open their offices to the unhoused at night

What happens in an office after the lights are turned off and everyone goes home is often a mystery, and typically a boring one (at least until you can’t find your favorite three-hole-punch in the morning). But some companies are trying to put its unused office space to good use at night, offering it up as a safe haven for an unhoused person to sleep or study in.

In 2019, a group of 15 business leaders created Bureaux du Cœuer (Offices of the Heart) in France to help some of the country’s more than 330,000 unhoused people have a place to stay. The founders claim that most office spaces are unoccupied 70% of the time (think nights, weekends, holidays).

The program prioritizes students, domestic violence survivors, and vulnerable populations trying to obtain stable employment. Companies take in one person at a time, and provide a stable temporary housing solution for people who are close on a pathway to a stable life, according to the organization’s website.

The person staying in the office must agree to a set of rules, including set hours and integration services like employment training or language classes. The temporary occupant and participating company each sign an agreement for the length of stay (up to three months, but renewable), and code of conduct, but they are allowed to stay for a brief time each morning and chat with employees.

Major employers including Danone, Suez waste management, and digital marketing agency Voyelle, have partnered with the organization to provide a safe temporary housing situation as people are integrated into permanent employment and housing.

Since its founding, Bureaux du Cœuer and over 300 companies have housed more than 1,000 guests across 38 cities in France, according to its 2025 impact report. Several other European countries, including Spain and Portugal, are also participating in the program, according to the organization’s website.

Bureaux du Cœuer relies largely on volunteers and the shelter provided reduces the financial burden on the government (emergency housing can cost around 10,000 euros). While the organization admits that the arrangements don’t always go according to plan (one guest stopped receiving services and had to leave), at least 85% participants finish their stays with housing and employment.

As part of the program, employees who use the office for work have opportunities to connect with the guests. “Having a coffee with him [the guest] sounds trivial, but for him, who had coffee with him over the last two years?” one such employee told Reasons to be Cheerful. “What’s great is that beyond making our offices available, it created this social bond.”

“What we promise companies is an experience of community,” Pierre-Yves Loaëc, founder of Bureaux du Cœuer, also told Reasons to be Cheerful, and can offer workers a new way to connect to their employers, “much more than bungee jumping and other [traditional corporate] team-building events” can.