Brussels region found at fault for lack of sites for travellers

A Brussels court has ruled that the region is at fault for failing to make any sites available for travellers since 2018, and has ordered the capital to provide at least 60 equipped pitches for caravans within six months.

Failure to do so will result in the region having to pay penalties.

“When travellers try to settle somewhere, they are immediately evicted,” Étienne Charpentier, president of the National Committee of Travellers in Belgium, told RTBF.

Charpentier said that attempts to communicate the issue to Brussels authorities had largely gone ignored: “It’s always been a categorical ‘no’. Either there’s no space, or they don’t reply at all.”

In its judgement, the court criticised the Brussels region for failing to take any concrete measures to encourage local authorities to accommodate travellers, unlike in Flanders and Wallonia. 

It found that several fundamental rights had been violated, notably the right to decent housing and the principle of non-discrimination.

“We’re talking about indirect discrimination because the specific circumstances of travellers - namely their nomadic way of life, which is protected by international standards - are not recognised,” said Anaïs Lefrère, who monitors cases involving travellers for Belgium’s Unia, the Interfederal Centre for Equal Opportunities and the Fight against Racism and Discrimination.

“The lack of official sites forces these communities to settle without authorisation, which leads to evictions - sometimes carried out at night - and deprives families of access to other fundamental rights such as education or utility connections. Unia welcomes this court ruling, which at the very least brings about an improvement in a case that has been ongoing for years.”

The court said that Brussels must provide sites fitted with access to water and electricity, regular household waste collection and a waste water drainage system. These sites must be able to accommodate a minimum of 60 caravans. 

In addition to the six-month deadline for these sites, the Brussels government has 12 months to adopt the implementing decrees for Article 191 of the Brussels Housing Code, setting out the minimum safety, hygiene and facilities requirements applicable to mobile homes. 

Should these deadlines not be met, the region will be required to pay the National Committee for Travellers a penalty of €10,000 per month of delay and per measure not complied with, capped at €500,000.

A spokesperson for state secretary for housing Karine Lalieux (PS) said that she would “analyse the judgment carefully in order to identify any necessary amendments to the Housing Code” and that she would work “closely with the secretary of state for spatial planning, Audrey Henry, to this end”.

Henry’s office said that “the judgment is currently being analysed by legal experts [but] various departments are involved and the matter will need to be discussed more widely before the Brussels government can take a position and draw up an action plan”.