In Brussels, poverty is pushed out of sight rather than addressed : police violence and exclusionary policies at the heart of the homelessness crisis

An article publi­shed by Apache sheds alar­ming light on the situa­tion in Brus­sels : home­less people are facing not only a severe lack of shel­ter options but also sys­te­ma­tic police vio­lence, fuel­led by a deli­be­ra­te­ly deterrent poli­cy enfor­ced at both fede­ral and local levels. Behind the glass-fron­ted buil­dings and fes­tive lights of the North Quar­ter, dozens of people sleep on the streets, expo­sed to cold, fear and aggres­sive police action. Field tes­ti­mo­nies, par­ti­cu­lar­ly from teams at Méde­cins Sans Fron­tières and the Huma­ni­ta­rian Hub, reveal that offi­cers slash tents, throw per­so­nal belon­gings into rub­bish trucks, and car­ry out night-time evic­tions in free­zing, rai­ny condi­tions. These actions deter people from retur­ning to sup­port centres, dee­pe­ning their iso­la­tion. Accor­ding to orga­ni­sa­tions such as Bel­Re­fu­gees, it has even become neces­sa­ry to hide tents each mor­ning to prevent their des­truc­tion. This relent­less pres­sure has a direct impact on the phy­si­cal and men­tal health of those affec­ted. The article also denounces humi­lia­ting and trau­ma­ti­sing prac­tices such as unjus­ti­fied strip searches and deten­tion in inhu­mane condi­tions. Although these methods have been docu­men­ted in ear­lier reports, there is no effec­tive over­sight, and recent accounts show that such abuses conti­nue, albeit more dis­creet­ly. The evic­tion of squats is also mar­ked by vio­lence, even when fami­lies or elder­ly people are invol­ved. Serious inju­ries have been repor­ted, inclu­ding those cau­sed by tear gas, and some ope­ra­tions invol­ved police drilling holes in roof­tops to make buil­dings unin­ha­bi­table. Autho­ri­ties jus­ti­fy these actions in the name of lega­li­ty and pro­por­tio­na­li­ty, yet recent recor­dings sug­gest that the true aim is to remove visible pover­ty from public view rather than pro­vide struc­tu­ral solu­tions. Phi­lippe Close, mayor since 2017, stands accu­sed of prio­ri­ti­sing the era­sure of home­less­ness from sight over offe­ring tan­gible alternatives.

This is com­poun­ded by an increa­sin­gly res­tric­tive fede­ral poli­cy, which includes the dis­mant­ling of the win­ter shel­ter plan and a dras­tic cut to the asy­lum recep­tion bud­get – from €826 mil­lion to €138 mil­lion by 2029. The num­ber of home­less people in Brus­sels rose by 24.5% bet­ween 2022 and 2024, rea­ching near­ly 10,000 indi­vi­duals. The govern­ment conti­nues to defend its deter­rence approach, des­pite more than 10,000 legal rulings against Bel­gium for vio­la­ting the right to shel­ter. It refuses to pay the resul­ting fines, inclu­ding those issued by the Euro­pean Court of Human Rights. NGOs argue that cur­rent poli­cies deli­be­ra­te­ly push people into public space without access to care, pro­tec­tion or sus­tai­nable hou­sing. Com­plaints about police vio­lence also remain shrou­ded in opa­ci­ty. While for­mal chan­nels exist, they are often inac­ces­sible, espe­cial­ly to people without legal sta­tus. Avai­lable data on com­plaints is unclear, and resear­chers point to a lack of ade­quate trai­ning within police forces. They call for struc­tu­ral reform and a poli­cing culture that res­pects fun­da­men­tal human rights. This por­trait of Brus­sels’ home­less­ness poli­cy reveals a rea­li­ty in which the visi­bi­li­ty of pover­ty has become more pro­ble­ma­tic than pover­ty itself.

Link to the ori­gi­nal article (in Dutch)