The planned eviction of 80 individuals, including 30 children, from a care home in Ixelles has been postponed following an appeal by the Rockin'Squat collective.
Since the start of Belgium's reception crisis in the autumn of 2021, thousands of asylum seekers have not been given the shelter to which they are legally entitled. Fedasil, Belgium's agency for asylum reception, and the State of Belgium have been condemned more than 10,000 times by various courts both in Belgium and on the European level for this failure.
It has also resulted in dozens of empty buildings in Brussels being occupied by people who would otherwise be sleeping rough on the streets. One of these buildings is a former care home located at Avenue de la Couronne 42 in Ixelles. Rockin'Squat, a collective that seeks to provide housing for people in difficulty and undocumented migrants, announced at the end of January that dozens of people were residing in the building.
Now, it provides housing for more than 80 people, including 30 children who are attending schools in Ixelles and Etterbeek. Some of the people face housing problems, while others are asylum seekers who have not been given the shelter to which they are legally entitled. Some are undocumented migrants who moved here after receiving notice to leave a building they previously occupied nearby on Rue du Trône.
Temporary solution?
At the start of March, a bailiff served the group with a judgement ordering them to vacate the building within eight days. The collective tried to negotiate an agreement with Fedasil to sign a temporary occupancy agreement. Now, Ixelles Mayor Christos Doulkeridis has confirmed that the group will not be evicted on Tuesday as planned.
"After several discussions with various authorities and the collective, we agreed to postpone the eviction," he stated, a few hours ahead of the planned evacuation. The collective stated that Fedasil plans to sublet the former care home building and convert it into a shelter for asylum seekers. However, it expressed disappointment over what it described as a "late agreement reached on the eve of the eviction, following long weeks of pleading for a solution."
Additionally, it believes the eviction is merely delayed until 7 July, meaning the situation is not resolved. Doulkeridis, however, offered assurance that he would do his utmost to find a solution before then.
Various civil society organisations have repeatedly called on the state to implement the dispersal plan provided for in national law that would see every municipality having to provide shelter to a certain number of people.
