Brussels: hundreds of homeless people on the streets between now and the end of May
By the end of May, more than 500 homeless beds will disappear in Brussels. And that number of future precariousness is felt more strongly in the field: the homeless centers are already there, the number of documents from Doctors of the World comes by with humanitarian emergencies has risen sharply.
Brussels urgently needs more reception capacity, not less. The removal of beds is therefore incomprehensible, according to the Doctors of the World.
On March 31, the ‘slimming operation’ of the Brussels homeless shelter started and the shelter in the Trierstraat had to close the door for 100 of the 190 residents. This phasing out scenario continues until the end of May, with the gradual closure of a series of centers and hotels for the homeless. In total, about five hundred beds are lost. This concerns places for women’s families as well as for men. For example, the largest homeless organization (New Samusocial) is forced to reduce its capacity to just 640 places. According to the latest figures, there are about 6,000 homeless people. Thus we return to a ‘seasonal logic’, which assumes that the Brussels homeless no longer need a bed because spring has sprung. The Brussels Coalition Agreement intended to arise from this precipitation.
330 less from Samusocial
100 trève less in march
90 croix rouge less at the end of May
Hotels bruss help: 2 hotels away, 80 away
For field workers, the step-by-step closures include a worsening of an already dire situation:
The voluntary street teams of Doctors of the World in the care bus: “While in 2019 about 40-50 people passed by on our care bus on an ordinary evening, there are now 80 to 120 per round. Every evening homeless people come to us in the hope that we will be able to guide them into one of the shelters. And although we do everything we can, we don’t always succeed. Since the beginning of this year, we have not found a solution for people looking for a bed about 30 times. Among them are families and minors. Now we have to tell you that another 500 spots are missing. Our volunteers as well as our patients fail us.”
The voluntary medical teams of Doctors of the World who work in the homeless centers: “We always try to find a solution with all possible means for the homeless plans that are losing their place in the shelter of already lost,” says Maite Machado, coordinator of medical consultations in the reception centres. “But given the saturation of the reception, we do not always succeed. At the closure of the center in the Trierstraat (March 31), for example, we see how one of our patients, a woman with schizophrenia and psychotic episodes, was put out on the street, despite her acute need. to medical and follow-up.
She is not the only homeless person with a vulnerable medical profile. Loic Dedoncker is a Voluntary Arts in the Beaulieu Family Center where 130 places are being deleted: “This center is very specific: families with specific problems are here. Like a man with a kidney tumor who needs chemotherapy. Or a severely handicapped man who needs help to wash himself. Babies on the street are at risk of hypothermia. Pregnant women about to give birth. and so on. Many residents have been staying here for two years. By closing all the work of doctors, psychologists, social workers to continue. No one in this center, in our medical view, meets the criterion of ‘strong enough to be thrown out on the street’. Still, the center’s employees can be set up to make a list of who can pack their bags.”
Assistance at 2 speeds
The shelter capacity for the homeless becomes shelter for the Ukrainian refugees, families and children who remain on the street. The global reception policy in our country, whether it concerns Ukrainian asylum seekers, the refugees at the Kleintje van Kasteel and the ‘ordinary’ Brussels homeless, should not allow permissions of the (refugee) status, color of nationality of those who request help.