The Portugal News reports that the Omnigym Paris homeless shelter pilot attracted a survey of more than 200 people, with 80% of respondents saying their physical health had improved since outdoor fitness equipment was installed in the courtyard of a Paris shelter. That is the headline number from a month-long trial that is now sharing its first results.
What the Omnigym Paris Homeless Shelter Pilot Set Out to Do
Physical inactivity is a growing public health concern, and it bears down hardest on lower-income communities. Omnigym, a gym equipment company from Finland, partnered with Emmaüs Solidarité, a French nonprofit that supports people experiencing homelessness, to test a direct response: put quality exercise equipment where people already are, and see what happens.
The installation was straightforward. A courtyard fitness unit, which Omnigym’s chief executive Kirsti Laasio calls The People’s Gym, went into a homeless shelter in the French capital. Residents were then asked to assess their physical health, mental well-being, sleep, mood and energy levels at regular intervals. Anonymous data was collected alongside those self-assessments to build a picture of the equipment’s real-world impact on a population that rarely features in fitness research.
One month in, the results are worth examining closely, while acknowledging the limitations of a short, single-site trial with self-reported measures.
Social Benefits Alongside the Physical Gains
The physical health finding of 80% is the most-cited number, but the social picture that emerged alongside it may be equally consequential. 90% of respondents said the gym had helped them meet or talk to other people, a result that points to something beyond exercise. Isolation is a persistent feature of street homelessness, and the courtyard appears to have created a reason for residents to occupy shared space together.
Behavioural changes surfaced in the qualitative responses too. One resident, when asked what they appreciated most about the gym, said: ‘A change in behavior. I smoke less.’ Another described it simply as ‘a change’ in their life, ‘even if only a little’. These are modest claims, and they should be read as such: one month is too short a period to draw firm conclusions about sustained behaviour change. What the data does suggest is that the equipment was used, and that people noticed a difference.
The survey of more than 200 people is a meaningful sample for a single-shelter pilot. It is large enough to move the findings beyond anecdote, though Omnigym has not yet published the full methodology or confidence intervals for the self-assessment scores.
The Case for Democratising Fitness
Laasio frames the initiative in explicit terms of access. ‘We want to democratize physical training and make it accessible to everyone,’ she said, describing physical fitness as a need that is ‘often overlooked’ among people experiencing homelessness.
That framing is practical as well as principled. Gym memberships and leisure centre fees are out of reach for most shelter residents. The courtyard model sidesteps that barrier entirely: the equipment is there, it is free to use, and it requires no registration, no kit purchase and no commute. The challenge, as any public health researcher would note, is that removing the access barrier is necessary but not always sufficient. Motivation, confidence and social norms around exercise all play a role, which is partly why the 90% figure on social connection may matter as much as the health scores.
Emmaüs Solidarité’s involvement gives the project structural credibility. The organisation’s existing relationships with residents, and its experience managing shelter environments, would have been essential to making the courtyard feel safe and usable rather than tokenistic.
Omnigym has not announced whether the pilot will be extended or replicated at other sites. The next step, based on the findings shared so far, would be a longer follow-up period to test whether the physical and behavioural improvements hold beyond the initial novelty of the installation.
