A reception centre operating out of Hotel Aviation in Anderlecht will close its doors at the end of the month following political pressure.
Last week, Dutch-speaking media reported that Hotel Aviation was being used to house asylum seekers despite not having notified the municipality of Anderlecht or the Brussels Government. The discovery sparked uproar from Anderlecht Mayor Fabrice Cumps (PS) who declared that reception agency Fedasil had made a "criminal decision" by housing people in the hotel.
The political pressure has worked and the centre will close at the end of September, Sudinfo reported on Friday. "I put a little pressure on them," Cumps told the paper. "I confronted the hotel manager to explain that it really wasn't a good idea to put a centre in that area. He agreed with me."
'Not in my backyard'
The hotel in question is located near Brussels-Midi station, and over 1,000 Google reviews describe a "nightmare" experience with multiple clients citing bedbugs, rats and dirty rooms. It is one of seven commercial establishments in Brussels with which Fedasil has been working to cope with record numbers of new arrivals to Belgium.
Around 30 people are staying in the hotel, according to a Fedasil spokesperson. He added that the residents are women and children and are not responsible for reports of violence in the area that have been wrongfully attributed to the centre.
Cumps' reaction to the centre plays into a "not in my backyard" attitude that is growing in the Belgian capital, Brussels Bar Association lawyer Jean-Francois Gérard told The Brussels Times. "He probably made these remarks because of the upcoming local elections."
Anderlecht Mayor Fabrice Cumps (PS). Credit: Belga / Hatim Kaghat
Cumps is one of several Brussels mayors calling for a national redistribution plan of asylum seekers around the country, rather than concentrating them all in the capital. State Secretary for Migration and Asylum Nicole de Moor continues to oppose this strategy, stating that "we must not disperse people without the right to stay to all the CPAS [unemployment and social services offices] and use up their resources."
The socialist mayor has expressed relief that the centre will close but believes that there is more work to be done. He told Sudinfo that services offered by non-profit organisation Samusocial are attracting homeless people to the area and "causing problems in the neighbourhood".
As of August, there were 3,900 people on the waiting list for asylum due to Belgium's severe reception crisis. The European Court of Human Rights and the Belgian courts have issued thousands of rulings that Belgium has violated international law by failing to welcome international protection applicants.
