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Additional winter homeless shelter to open in Haren

16:59 30/11/2017

The Brussels-Capital-Region has come to an agreement with the federal government regarding extra homeless shelter space this winter. A delay in the decision as the temperatures have dropped led to discord in government quarters this week.

“This is unacceptable,” state secretary Zuhal Demir, in charge of poverty issues, said yesterday. “We have lost another crucial day today. The resources are there, the people are there. Brussels’ winter plan for the homeless should have been taken care of already.”

Brussels has now rented part of the Blue Star building on Rue du Planeur in Haren (pictured), which will be opened up as a shelter during the night. The Red Cross will take care of the running of the facility and are busy now getting it ready. A spokesperson said it should be ready in a few days.

The lack of enough temporary winter shelter has been the source of much controversy over the last few weeks, with the Red Cross and Doctors of the World both making public statements about the situation.

Written by Lisa Bradshaw