Belgium/A night shelter opens in Bastogne, the second in the province of Luxembourg
From the evening of Tuesday December 9, a night shelter will open its doors in Bastogne. It's only the second in the province of Luxembourg. For over fifteen years, only the town of Arlon has offered this service to the most vulnerable. A structure that is clearly insufficient to meet all demands.
From now on, a 14-place night shelter (12 places for men and 2 places for women) will also open in Bastogne during the winter. " The capacity is designed to meet the needs of Bastogne's most vulnerable people," explains Mayor Benoit Lutgen. "It corresponds to a reality that we know here in Bastogne: we have a large number of people in serious difficulty".
The new night shelter is the brainchild of Le210, the non-profit organization that purchased a building in Bastogne with the help of regional subsidies. The town of Bastogne also supports the project. " There is a non-profit organization, Le210, which I would like to thank very much, which has decided to take matters into its own hands with the president of the CPAS, Jean-Michel Gaspart, to organize this reception in the best possible way".
Too few night shelters
Opening a night shelter comes at a price. Communes also fear that opening this type of structure will mean that the most precarious people will move to the cities with this type of structure.
"What did we do before? In short, we gave them a bus ticket and they went to the night shelter in Arlon". A night shelter overwhelmed by requests. "We had to take responsibility. It's really important for every commune to take responsibility. It's a gesture of solidarity, and it'll be easier for everyone". Having this type of structure on a commune's territory also brings certain advantages. "It allows for much better monitoring of the community's disadvantaged residents. When people left to live elsewhere, a lot of information was lost. Here, the structure is managed by trained professionals, in liaison with the CPAS. It's simpler for administrative and medical follow-up, and so on. Local follow-up means quality follow-up, and increases the chances that these people will be able to reintegrate into society".
For some years now, Bastogne has had a day shelter open from 9am to 4pm. From now on, it will offer a slightly longer opening period in the evening, and then, on registration, people will be able to join the night shelter from 9pm, which will open its doors for the first time this Tuesday evening.
Source: www.rtbf.be/
