Belgium/Shelter: "Extreme cold" plan activated in Brussels
On Christmas Day, December 25, Brussels Capital activated its "Extreme Cold" plan in collaboration with Samu Social and the Red Cross. Some sixty places for single men were opened on an emergency basis, but this was far from enough.
With temperatures suddenly plummeting to zero degrees, with a feel of minus 6 degrees this December 25, it was necessary to open additional places to accommodate people sleeping rough in Brussels. Bruss'help, the regional coordinating body for assistance to the homeless in Brussels, announced the opening of 65 additional places for single homeless men.
Physical and human warmth
"I spent the night under a tree near the Mellaerts ponds in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre. I'm freezing," blows David, 31, who arrived before the opening and is waiting in the corridor leading to the gymnasium of the Athénée Charles Janssens in Ixelles. Christian, a Red Cross employee, welcomes him.
"My role is to explain the rules to all the people who come here to sleep. There are opening and closing times, and meal times. They are given a blanket, a sheet and a hygiene kit, and have access to showers from 4pm to 9pm." Another member of staff accompanies David to his cot.
Welcoming in an emergency, but in safety
"We welcome everyone," explains Clémentine Moyart, the Red Cross director for Brussels. "We offer an unconditional welcome to anyone who needs shelter for the night. You have to go through the SAMU social dispatching service (0800 / 99.340). Associations also send people directly to us, via the "maraudes"". A welcome according to the number of places available: 50 beds, here in Ixelles.
"We'd love to be able to do more. But it's very complicated to find infrastructure in Brussels that meets current standards," laments Clémentine Moyart. "But we want to be able to welcome people with a minimum of safety, and not put them in any more danger than they already are. So they'll be able to sleep in the warmth until tomorrow morning. And tomorrow morning, they'll have to re-register if they want to come back so they can sleep again. We're in a hurry".
Corridors of the metro or station
Maxime is 34 and has years of hard work behind him. "I used to sleep at Arts-Loi, but I don't sleep very well in the metro. During the winter, when temperatures hover around zero degrees, the Stib and SNCB tolerate the homeless in the non-paying public areas of their infrastructures.
"It was Stib workers who found me a place here, but apparently it's just for tonight. I'm not sure what's next. I've been on the streets since April.I ' mreally fed up, I just want to take care of myself, otherwise I'm going to die. My family disowned me 10 years ago. I celebrated Christmas alone".
Complementary places
It's not easy to find suitable places for a night shelter. The commune of Ixelles made the gymnasium of its Athénée available to the Region. "It's a fairly suitable place because it's accessible to PRMs and the spaces are subdivided," explains Nevruz Unal, Socialist alderman for the fight against poverty, social justice and solidarity.
"But this space is only available during school vacations. It will close on the morning of Sunday January 4. In an emergency, this is what enabled us to provide access to this night shelter", explains Alderman Unal.
It's a night shelter open from 4 p.m. to 9 a.m. "We have a day shelter, with our prevention service, where the doors are open from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., with showers and a checkroom. We provide food. We even offer hygiene support with beauticians and social support for personal files".
Fifteen places have also been opened at Samusocial's Poincaré center in Anderlecht.
An emergency aid network
Since November, 285 "winter" places have been available for families at the Red Cross Marie-Curie center and at two Samusocial centers in Schaerbeek and Evere. A further 2,800 places have already been opened by other emergency operators (Belrefugees, Ukrainian Voices, Pierre d'Angle and Centre Ariane).
The number of homeless people in Brussels is estimated at 10,000.
Source: www.rtbf.be/
