2023-07-28 06:00:00
Homelessness services in Brussels are sounding the alarm. In summer, many administrations and services operate in slow motion, places in accommodation centers are closed following the winter period. But being homeless in summer is just as problematic as in winter. In the event of a heat wave or incessant rain, as has been the case in recent days, homeless people have no place to spend the day or even the night. The places open in the capital are overwhelmed with requests.
“We gotta close the door early ’cause we can’t make it“, confides Fanny, social worker at the Resto du Cœur in Saint-Gilles, “we have 120 people a day at noon, it’s full. We have seen a real increase in recent weeks. Some structures are closed during the holidays, so people who need it come more here.”
The small social restaurant is indeed crowded. There are families, single people, and a lot of homeless people. One of them agrees to talk to us:I have been homeless for 5 years. In winter, I find space. There are heated places open. But in the summer, everything closes. The authorities tell themselves that we can manage, they close beds. But the problem in summer is that it is very hot. When it’s 35 degrees, in the middle of the city, and you have nowhere to shelter, rest how do you do ?”
For this man, the heavy rain of recent days is also a huge concern: “JI sleep outside, so I take shelter as best I can but we often get kicked out. So I come and eat here, I stay a bit, not too much, you can’t, but I eat something hot, dry off and talk to the workers, who are nice.“
“Sometimes“, adds Fanny, “I tell myself that I prefer the winter period. At least there we have help, beds are open. I have the impression that we are in a non-stop tense flow, us workers, but the beneficiaries too. There is no respite. As a social worker, I don’t understand how people don’t realize that they need help all year round.“
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