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Shelter and Welcome

For seve­ral years, Bel­gium has been facing a chro­nic recep­tion cri­sis. Because of non-recep­tion poli­cies pur­sued by suc­ces­sive govern­ments, thou­sands of men, women, and chil­dren have been left on the streets without any digni­fied solution.

In res­ponse to this struc­tu­ral fai­lure of the State, Bel­Re­fu­gees, the Citi­zen Plat­form for Refu­gee Sup­port, was born in 2015 out of a spon­ta­neous wave of solidarity.

Since then, we have never stop­ped wor­king to pro­vide uncon­di­tio­nal shel­ter, lis­te­ning, and sup­port to people on the move. For us, hos­ting is an act of soli­da­ri­ty and resis­tance against inhu­ma­ni­ty — a poli­ti­cal choice in favor of digni­ty, res­pect, and welcome.

In 2024, Bel­Re­fu­gees pro­vi­ded more than 422,000 nights of shel­ter to over 11,000 people.

━━━ BelRefugees Shelter Facilities

Emergency Shelters

Bel­Re­fu­gees’ emer­gen­cy shel­ters wel­come single men for a stan­dard stay of 28 days.

In 2024, they pro­vi­ded 133,684 over­night stays, along with socio-legal sup­port, heal­th­care, dai­ly meals, and col­lec­tive activities.

The Sister’s House

The Sister’s House wel­comes single migrant women in a non-mixed, safe, and sup­por­tive environment.

In 2024, it pro­vi­ded over 26,000 over­night stays, offe­ring com­pre­hen­sive psy­cho­so­cial, medi­cal, and legal sup­port and nume­rous week­ly com­mu­ni­ty activities.

Amran

The Amran Cen­ter, ope­ned in 2022, is dedi­ca­ted to unac­com­pa­nied minors (UAMs). It pro­vides 24/7 shel­ter and social, edu­ca­tio­nal, and legal sup­port in a struc­tu­red environment.

Citoyens Center : Pre-Welcome

The Citoyens Cen­ter ope­ned in Februa­ry 2023 as part of the Brus­sels Deal and in res­ponse to the urgent wel­come crisis.

It cur­rent­ly hosts 161 men who have applied for inter­na­tio­nal pro­tec­tion and are awai­ting an offi­cial place in the Feda­sil network.

Collective Shelters in Brussels

These faci­li­ties wel­come spe­ci­fic groups (fami­lies, youth, single women) in small-scale hou­sing. They allow for clo­ser sup­port and grea­ter sta­bi­li­ty for resi­dents, with strong volun­teer involvement.

Collective Shelters in the Regions

Loca­ted in seve­ral pro­vinces (Bra­bant Wal­lon, Liège, Wal­lo­nie Picarde, Namur, Hai­naut…), these faci­li­ties offer col­lec­tive shel­ter tai­lo­red to vul­ne­rable people.

They are mana­ged by local volun­teer teams and fos­ter inte­gra­tion in a cal­mer set­ting out­side the capital.

Family Houses

Fami­ly Houses pro­vide a safe and sup­por­tive envi­ron­ment for women with chil­dren, mana­ged by dedi­ca­ted volun­teer teams in col­la­bo­ra­tion with local partners.

Hosting in Families

Since 2017, thou­sands of citi­zens have ope­ned their homes to people on the move who had no other shel­ter solution.

Dis­co­ver the Sister’s House through the French-lan­guage pod­cast series Wel­come Sis­ter,

crea­ted by Anna Galy and Naï­ké Garny.