The Brussels Deal was established at the end of 2022 because the regular Fedasil network lacked sufficient capacity to accommodate asylum seekers. With an annual budget of 42 million euros, 2,000 new places were funded in the Brussels region. According to minister Van Bossuyt, the demand has now decreased to around 1,000 single men, of whom half are expected to find shelter with family, friends, or acquaintances. “Taxpayers’ money can only be spent once. If there are still about 1,000 people on the transition list, I will not continue to pay for 2,000 places,” she explains.
Several civil society organisations oppose this reasoning and warn that the cuts could trigger a humanitarian crisis. According to the Brussels homeless organisation Samusocial, the number of applications for shelter in Brussels is actually rising sharply, mainly among families with children. Data from Samusocial shows that in July alone — even before the cuts took effect — more than 244 of the 299 families requesting shelter could no longer be assisted due to network saturation.
“The removal of these thousand places will only worsen an already critical situation, causing even more families, children, and vulnerable individuals to end up on the streets,” say the organisations. They fear that many people without shelter will be forced to seek refuge in metro stations and parks, and they anticipate the emergence of new tent camps in Brussels.
The initial translation of this content was generated by AI. All facts, context, and language have subsequently been verified and validated by a human editorial team.
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