As Paris walked by, a photographer died. Can it bring compassion to streets?

When elderly Swiss photographer René Robert collapsed on the sidewalk near the central Republique square in Paris last month, lying helpless for nine hours in the winter cold before a man living on the street alerted authorities to his plight – too late to save him – French society was shocked.

But while the public has struggled to understand why no one stopped to help for hours, Mr. Robert’s death is not necessarily unusual for France’s homeless population. In France, over 500 people die every year while homeless, and at an average age of 48, compared to 79 in the general population.

One of those was Valérie. She passed away at the end of December on a busy thoroughfare in the east of the French capital. Those who knew her say