News

Housing is the solution to homelessness. And, conveniently, the right to decent housing is laid down in the Belgian Constitution. In 2020 there were 5,000 homeless and badly housed people in Brussels, and successive crises made the situation even worse. How is that possible?

Access to affordable, durable homes of good quality is key to the abolition of homelessness. In this context, the Brussels government must take structural measures to get people off the street. That’s why Street Nurses, in the run-up to the 2024 elections, advocates the introduction of a quota to facilitate housing access for homeless people.

This year Street Nurses participates in the Housing Action Day movement, and our team will be present at the demonstrations on 26 March 2023, both in Brussels and Ghent. Because without durable and affordable homes there will never come an end to homelessness. That must change. Are you in?

The Belgian Minister for Urban Policy, Caroline Gennez, announced on Wednesday 18 January, in an interview with VRT News, the investment of 10 million in the Housing First model for the support of homeless people.

During the national conference “From dream to reality: ending homelessness in Belgium”, on 14 October 2022, Street Nurses brought together homelessness professionals, politicians, and citizens to reflect on actions and concrete measures towards ending homelessness at the national level.

The day was marked by constructive and valuable discussions which can trigger the necessary political changes. In anticipation of the report on the conference, here is a summary of the discussions with pictures of the event.

From 7 to 14 October 2022, the non-profit organisation Street Nurses will be running its “Dream of a roof” campaign. The aim is to invite citizens, companies, professionals in the sector and the political sphere to act together to put an end to homelessness.

How does one recover from a long life on the street that is so harmful for one’s health? Street Nurses have a simple answer: a home of your own is essential for survival and for long term health. Because homelessness is much more than a social problem – it’s a public health problem.

With the image of a piece of cardboard as a 'mattress Badlük' and the launch of the first Brussels Sleep Out @Home, the NPO Street Nurses (Infirmiers de rue asbl) renews its campaign to make the Brussels public aware that homelessness can be solved. With more than 700 people sleeping on the streets of Brussels, the organisation wants to keep the whole of Brussels awake to put an end to homelessness together.

Street nurses call for a prison system that leads to reintegration

From 19 November till 5 December 2021 will take place the National Days of Prison. A pluralistic group of associations and organizations instituted these days some years ago to inform and stimulate reflection about the prison situation in Belgium.

That situation is seriously worrying and was denounced especially by the Belgian Section of the International Observatory on Prisons: in addition to overpopulation and structural lack of staff, they now also suffer from all the problems caused by the Covid crisis.

July 2021 will go down in history as the moment when many Belgians became climate refugees in their own country.

Last week, the consultation commission on the "sustainable solution to the situation of homeless people in the Brussels Capital Region" published its recommendations. The 97 recommendations take a clear direction and are in line with the suggestions of the sector: access to housing, prevention, access to rights, administrative simplification, etc. All things that we as Street Nurses, together with other organisations, have been pushing forward for a long time.

Street Nurses is not involved in the hunger strike of the sans-papiers in the church of the Béguinage, the VUB and the ULB.

Nevertheless, Street Nurses is highly concerned about the people on hunger strike.

Like many others, we demand, expect, hope ... that a solution will soon be found for them. This solution can only be political.