Brussels to provide shelter for the homeless year-round

The Brussels-Capital Region aims to radically improve its policy on homelessness in the capital, said ministers Céline Fremault (CDH) and Pascal Smet (SP.A) at a press conference. The ministers announced that the Region will instate a new body to keep personal files and organise year-round shelter for the homeless population, reports brusselnieuws.be.

Brussels currently provides emergency winter shelter for the homeless from November until the end of March. But now the ministers want to provide shelter for the homeless year-round, especially for families with children.

Fremault and Smet announced that they would use the former Brussels Environment offices to house 150 people. The 110 sites provided by homeless organisations SamuSocial and Vestje will remain open, as will the 48 places provided by the associations Ariane and Hoeksteen.

In addition, the ministers will launch a programme called Housing First, to give homeless people a home and personalised guidance, starting with this year's pilot project which put a roof over the heads of 47 people.

For inspiration, the two ministers studied similar projects in London and The Hague.

"Only providing emergency shelter without helping them find a way out of their situation is pointless," say the ministers.