On 14 October, thousands of citizens, workers and associations will take to the streets.
Street Nurses will stand by their side.
Not to defend a privilege. Not to shout into the void.
We are taking to the streets to remind everyone of a simple but essential truth: political decisions shape our lives — and today, these choices are making people poorer, dividing and excluding.
When poverty becomes a political choice
The Arizona federal government is proposing an agreement that hides a brutal reality behind technocratic language: more precarity, fewer rights, and more people being pushed onto the streets.
At Street Nurses, we see the consequences of this every day.
Homelessness is not inevitable: it is a direct result of political decisions.
Three austerity measures with heavy consequences
End of the Cold Weather Plan
The government is cutting the €325,000 federal contribution, depriving major cities (Brussels, Liège, Charleroi, Ghent and Antwerp) of one-third of their emergency winter shelter budget. Yet this plan saves lives every year. The consequences will soon be felt: more people sleeping outside, with frontline teams lacking the resources to respond to the cold.
Time limit on unemployment benefits
By the end of 2026, over 184,000 people will lose their unemployment allowance.
According to the Health and Social Observatory, nearly 40% of them will be left without any income, and a third will depend on the OCMW/CPAS. But social services are already overwhelmed. When it takes four months to process a file, unpaid rent and administrative delays can quickly push a person back to the streets.
Behind those numbers are real people: Noa, Ahmed, Chantal — lives hanging by a thread.
Tightening of migration policy
Belgium has already been condemned 12,000 times for failing to respect the right to shelter.
Despite this, the government is once again reducing the number of available places and eliminating Local Reception Initiatives (LOI). Today, 3,000 recognised refugees already sleep outside. Tomorrow, there will be even more.
Thus, the right to asylum — a cornerstone of our democracy — continues to erode.
An attack on care, social cohesion and solidarity
Current policies do more than increase homelessness: they weaken the entire social and health system.
Cuts to social security, unemployment reforms, and growing pressure on caregivers and social workers are undermining our society’s greatest achievement: solidarity.
But we do not have to accept this.
Civil society and thousands of citizens are mobilising against this dismantling logic.
Together, we defend a shared conviction: a society that abandons its most vulnerable is one that loses itself.
Together against the dismantling of solidarity
At Street Nurses, we’ve been saying it for years: “Together, we can end homelessness.”
Today, that *together* is under threat.
On 8 October, we already marched alongside several partner organisations to protest against policies that directly increase homelessness.
We are back on the streets, because budget cuts must not result in even more poverty. (Sign the citizen petition for structural anti-homelessness policies)
We’re marching again today because austerity must not lead to more poverty.