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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.

You who has been protected by a legitimate governmental measure imposing a moratorium on evictions given the health situation, you are about to re-join the mass of those who, on September first, will be evicted.

When quarantine started, in March, hotels in Brussels have opened their doors to offer a total of 820 rooms to host the homeless people. Meanwhile, those infrastructures have closed and as off today, only 92 rooms are available (according to Bruss’help).

To “Infirmiers de rue” it is a big regret.

Organisations around the world are insistent that homeless people need better protection from Covid-19.

On a recent visit to the metro, I was horrified to observe the outcasts of the current lockdown.

People without a hosting solution are already particularly vulnerable to the risks associated with Covid-19. Recent government measures taken to limit the spread of Covid-19 pose an additional risk of exclusion for these individuals.

To wash yourself, changing your clothes, going to the toilet, finding water and food; these basic needs are unattainable for almost a third of the homeless people.

Norway and Finland, pioneers in 'ending homelessness', tell us that there are three main points to focus on if we want to end homelessness one day.

Brussels, December 3, 2020. Nearly half of the homeless people interviewed have been on the street for at least two years and two thirds have no source of income. These are the results of a survey organized in the Brussels Region at the end of September by the 400Toits campaign. In addition, almost one person in two said they had been beaten or attacked since becoming homeless.