2024-01-12 16:23:22
“The federal government is carrying out a policy of ‘pushback’ of applicants who do not bear its name”, by sending them back to the Brussels Region, declared Friday the Brussels Minister responsible for homeless policy, Alain Maron (Ecolo) .
The minister was questioned in a current affairs debate on the reception of homeless people in the capital during the current period of extreme cold.
In his eyes, we must aim for a “zero homeless” policy, regardless of status.
Homeless deaths
The death of a homeless person in Ixelles at the start of the week justified the organization of this topical debate. According to the results of the autopsy, this person died of natural causes, unrelated to the cold at the time.
Mr. Maron recalled that 78 homeless people had died on the streets in 2022 and that last year’s figures might be of the same order. He noted that the Brussels Region had made additional efforts to increase the number of reception places in various forms.
“At some point, we have to ask ourselves structural questions”
He listed a number of reasons why the number of homeless people in Brussels was not decreasing despite this. In his eyes, the Capital Region is alone in taking charge of the policy to combat homelessness. “Zero reception places in Walloon Brabant… At some point, we have to ask ourselves structural questions,” he said.
In the eyes of the environmentalist minister, there is only a Federal deal with Brussels in this matter because there is no distribution plan between Regions. The Federal government itself does not welcome asylum seekers as it should.
Among the speakers, Marie Nagy (DéFI) asked him what Deputy Prime Minister Ecolo Georges Gilkinet had done at the Federal to mark his disagreement with the policy pursued there with regard to asylum seekers.
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