Local asylum reception places drop by 30 per cent in four years
The number of available reception places for asylum seekers in local reception initiatives has fallen by more than 30 per cent since 2021, according to figures from federal asylum agency Fedasil.
These initiatives are individual homes usually made available by a municipality’s Public Centre for Social Welfare. They exist alongside larger collective reception centres and provide asylum seekers with material assistance for as long as their case is ongoing.
On 1 January 2021, Belgium had 5,955 places in local reception initiatives, but the number has fallen significantly since then. On 1 January 2025, only 4,115 places remained available, a decrease of more than 30 per cent compared to four years ago. They account for 11 per cent of total reception capacity today, compared to more than 21 per cent four years ago.
'Against logic'
“Small-scale reception is more humane, cheaper and at the moment also very much needed to cope with the reception crisis,” said Groen MP Matti Vandemaele, who requested the figures in Parliament.
Belgium is facing an overall shortage of reception places, and according to Vandemaele, a calculation by the Court of Audit shows that reception in a local initiative costs the government less than in a large centre. The development thus “goes against every logic”, he said. “Our reception crisis requires every form of reception, both collective reception centres and local reception initiatives.”
"Small-scale reception is more humane, cheaper and very much needed to cope with the reception crisis"
Despite the freezing cold, 2,800 asylum seekers do not have a place to sleep because of too little capacity, the Flemish Red Cross told De Standaard last week. However, the organisation sees possibilities for hundreds of extra places.
State secretary Nicole de Moor of CD&V points primarily to the tight housing market. “As a result, municipalities currently have little room to provide for local reception initiatives,” she told De Standaard.
“That housing shortage also means it is not easy for recognised refugees to find a place on the regular rental market, as a result of which many stay too long in reception centres.”
#FlandersNewsService | A man shows his room in a squatted building housing undocumented people in Schaerbeek in Brussels, February 2024 © BELGA PHOTO TIMON RAMBOER
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