Homeless families turned away due to lack of space

Samusocial, the organisation tasked with helping the homeless in Brussels, has said that it was forced to turn away 25 families in one day earlier this week.

The organisation is warning of the "growing saturation" of emergency accommodation facilities in the Brussels region, both those managed by itself and by other operators.

It said that the 25 families turned away on Monday, nearly 100 people in all, set a dark record.

“Our teams are faced with impossible choices, forced to decide which families will be given shelter and which will have to remain on the streets. This dramatic record illustrates the burden of homelessness in Brussels today,” Samusocial said.

“This particularly alarming situation is likely to worsen with the entry into force in early August of the federal law on the withdrawal of material assistance for certain applicants for international protection. Those affected are now excluded from Fedasil reception.”

Sébastien Roy, director general of Samusocial, warned that "refusing to accept asylum seekers into the network does not make these families disappear".

The organisation said the lack of "humane and structural" responses to Belgium’s migration crisis is impacting the entire Brussels community and undermining social cohesion.

According to the organisation, the lack of appropriate and sustainable measures is causing precariousness to skyrocket and pushing more people to adopt risky strategies to cope with insecurity and daily suffering, including squatting and wandering around metro stations.