Brussels shelter forced to turn away women and children after asylum policy shift
Homeless charity Samusocial says it can no longer guarantee beds for women with children or victims of domestic violence, following new federal asylum rules. Since early September, the organisation has had to refuse around 400 families, or 1,500 people.
One in three women in Samusocial shelters has fled partner or family violence. Until now, the charity avoided turning them away by keeping emergency spaces available. “With limited resources and rising demand, we can no longer protect this priority group,” said operations director Pierre Hublet.
The federal government decided in August that asylum seekers already granted protection in another EU country are no longer entitled to housing in Belgium. Samusocial warns that, with winter approaching, more families will end up sleeping outside, alongside single men.
Staff now face “impossible choices”. In one recent case, a couple with an 18-month-old child was told to leave so another family with three children, who had spent days on the streets, could be housed.
Samusocial is working with the Brussels government to find short-term solutions, but fears temporary options like squats or metro stations will soon run out.
Federal asylum and migration minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt (N-VA) defended the measures. She said families affected “chose to come to Belgium despite protection elsewhere” and could still opt for voluntary return to their home country or the responsible EU state.
Van Bossuyt added that she expects aid organisations to tell people “they have no future in Belgium and will have to return”.
Squatters in Brussels © BELGA PHOTO JAMES ARTHUR GEKIERE