Belgium/More than 900 homeless people housed in Brussels hotels since January

The tourist sector in Brussels is still suffering from the health crisis, but in 10 Brussels hotels the rooms are still occupied.

Since the beginning of 2021, 911 homeless people have been staying in hotels every day, according to figures given by the Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region, Rudy Vervoort (PS), to Brussels MP Bianca Debaets (CDV).

As soon as the pandemic broke out, the Brussels government quickly took the initiative to requisition a number of hotels and use them as shelters for the many homeless people in Brussels. According to the figures, 750 beds were occupied from March to June 2020, 650 beds from July to December 2020 and 911 beds have been occupied since 1 January 2021.

In 2019, the occupancy rate of Brussels hotels was 76.5%, but with the health crisis, this percentage dropped to 21.8% in 2020. The Brussels Hotels Association mentioned a loss of revenue of 90% for 2020. To support the tourism sector, a premium for the events sector has been introduced by the Brussels government. By 21 March 2021, 6 million euros in premiums had already been allocated to 1284 companies. The Brussels government also approved the new Tetra premium on 11 March to support the most affected sectors.

Source: www.rtbf.be