The homeless struggle with cold in Belgium’s capital amid reception crisis

BRUSSELS, BELGIUM - JANUARY 13: As the cold winter months loom large, many homeless people living without a roof facing over their heads have been struggling with harsh winter conditions in Belgium. Some stay in tents on the streets while many sleep in subway underpasses, under bridges, and in the spaces at the entrances of shops and residences in the cold, facing the risk of dehydration, frostbite, and or hypothermia. About a hundred people, mostly asylum seekers have been taking shelter in the tent camp on the bridge over the channel on the corner of Rue de l'Avenir and Rue du Chien vert in Brussels. Belgium has been grappling with a crisis concerning the lack of shelter for asylum seekers for more than one year. Hundreds of people have to sleep on the streets because the doors of the Fedasil registration center Klein Kasteeltje/Le Petit-Château in Brussels cannot handle providing shelter to the asylum seekers and the refugees which is their right to get. Resisting the harsh weather, without a home and nowhere to go, is nearly impossible. But thousands of people including migrants awake in the streets of Belgium and build their lives despite the challenges of living without shelter or a regular address. From one count in November 2016, there were 3,386 people experiencing homelessness in Brussels. This is a 96% increase since 2008, according to a survey released by the Abbé Pierre foundation. A study in 2022 found that more women and children were becoming homeless in Belgium. The study of four regions, documented 3,847 homeless people. One third of people found to be homeless were women, while a quarter were children. Homelessness in Brussels almost doubled between 2008 and 2016, stated La Strada in 2018. (Footage by Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)