Supporting Families in Crisis: Viva for Life and the Struggle for Stable Housing in Belgium

2023-12-20 16:50:25

Every day in Belgium, families fall into precariousness and some families find themselves without housing overnight. Viva for Life supports several reception centers such as Le Triangle, le 210 or l’églantier which accommodate families with young children. Unfortunately, places are limited and demand continues to grow. Our journalist Anne Pollard went to meet a dad who, since losing everything, has been living in lodges with his family.

The family that Anne Pollard met has been living in somewhat unusual accommodation since June, juggling between different lodgings. For this family who lost everything a few months ago, it is the last solution before the street. Unstable conditions in which it is difficult to create a fulfilling and reassuring home for the four children.

In fact, staying in gîtes that are rented by the week means having to change accommodation regularly. A complicated situation for this dad. “It’s not easy, you arrive in a place, you get used to it and then you have to leave” he confides.

Poverty can affect everyone, all it takes is one event: the loss of a job, an illness, a separation and it’s a collapse. A chain reaction that hit this family hard. “It’s a domino effect, when you have a problem of one kind, others follow. […] Today, we’re either on the street or we’re going back up, but we can’t go any lower.”

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