News

Homelessness and inadequate housing continue to increase across Belgium. The latest counts estimate that more than 21,000 people are without a home in Flanders, nearly 19,000 in Wallonia and nearly 10,000 in Brussels. Behind these figures are thousands of people facing life paths marked by precarity, housing breakdowns and a lack of sustainable solutions. In Wallonia, frontline organisations are witnessing worsening difficulties in accessing housing, an increase in the number of women, young people and children affected, as well as growing saturation of support and accommodation services.

We’d love to invite you to our open day on 25 September, to mark our twentieth anniversary.
Come and explore our offices and get to know our colleagues and how we work.

Heat waves are back in Belgium and endanger homeless people. Because, contrary to general belief, life on the street during the summer is hardly more bearable than in winter.

What are the risks, best practices, and recommendations?

In March of this year (2026), Street Nurses purchased an office block in Anderlecht. The building has yet to be renovated, but Street Nurses’ offices will move in gradually during 2027.

Since 20 April, however, the building has been occupied by the Collectif des habitants des Cendres.
Following the messages posted by the Collectif on social media since 19 June 2026 regarding this occupation, we would like to clarify the situation.

Contrary to what this post suggests, a process of dialogue and collaboration has indeed been underway between the Collectif des habitants des Cendres and Street Nurses since their first meeting.

Year after year, the same alarm is sounded. In the field, we are no longer surprised, but we keep repeating the same mantra: above all, we must not get used to it. Because behind this figure, let us not forget, there are 18,800 people whose right to housing is trampled on every day, 18,800 people who face the violence of the streets and the uncertainty of tomorrow.

This alarming figure comes from the count organised last October by the Walloon Observatory on Homelessness, in collaboration with organisations in the sector and the CIRTES team (UCLouvain). It is an estimate, based on a survey conducted in three areas — Tournai-Mouscron, Huy-Waremme and the Liège basin — and supplemented with data collected in other areas in previous years.

For Street Nurses, homelessness in Belgium is not only about housing. The link between precarity and mental health often shapes whether recovery is possible. This account focuses on mental health among homeless people and what steady, street-based support can change over time

On 23 March 2025, we lost our dear colleague Pierre Ryckmans, doctor and medical coordinator.

One year later, his absence is still deeply felt. It leaves a void within the teams, in our habits and in our daily connections. But this absence coexists with something that remains very present: what he passed on, and what continues to live on in our work.

At Street Nurses, we support homeless people towards sustainable housing. But to remain in housing, having a roof over one’s head is not enough: people also need to be able to cope with the trauma, mental health disorders and exhaustion caused by life on the streets. Today, a large proportion of our patients are affected by mental health problems, and access to care is often difficult.

In 2025, thanks to your support, Street Nurses was able to continue its mission to end homelessness in Brussels and Liège. Behind every support process, every stabilised pathway and every person regaining a sustainable future, there is essential outreach work carried out daily by our teams. Your commitment enables us to stay the course and continue developing concrete solutions to homelessness.

At the end of May 2026, Julien will connect Liège to Brussels by running and walking, then immediately take on the 20 km of Brussels. One clear goal: raise €100,000 to support the fight against homelessness together with Street Nurses.

At the International Social Housing Festival in Dublin (2025), one message was clear: if we want to end homelessness, we must invest massively in social housing. Experiences from across Europe show that without sufficient public housing, Housing First cannot deliver on its promise.

20 years! It doesn’t make me any younger… and at the same time, it brings back everything we have built together.

20 years of presence in the field, of consistency and humanity.
20 years that made it possible, among other things, for 230 people to leave the street, for hundreds of professionals to be trained, and for around 200 colleagues and dozens of volunteers to join us – and to build friendships, and sometimes more.