A total of 19,387 people are experiencing homelessness in Wallonia, including a significant number of children, according to data collected over the past five years.
In Wallonia, almost 20,000 people are homeless or without a home, a figure marked by a high proportion of children, according to uniform counts conducted over the last five years in the south of the country.
These include 14,183 adults and 5,204 children (26.8%) directly affected by their parents' housing situation. The latter is mainly in emergency or temporary accommodation (46.6%), with relatives (27.6%) or in housing threatened with immediate eviction (10%), according to figures presented this week by the Observatoire wallon du sans-abrisme (OWSA) in collaboration with, among others, UCLouvain.
'Tip of the iceberg'
"The people we see in the public space are only the tip of the iceberg (around 5%). Sleeping rough, in emergency accommodation or an unconventional space (tent, car, squat, etc.) is a reality in Belgium and Wallonia. Although this is more often the case in big cities, the phenomenon is present everywhere," highlighted Martin Wagener, professor at UCLouvain, during a press conference.
In 2023, the OWSA took over from the King Baudouin Foundation to organise regular and uniform scientific counts in Wallonia together with research teams. This was done to collect precise data on the phenomenon's scale and the profile of the people concerned.
At the end of 2024, CIRTES UCLouvain and KULeuven carried out three new point-in-time counts of homeless people in Wallonia. The 12 municipalities in Charleroi, the 16 municipalities in Namur and the 20 municipalities in Verviers took part.
A total of 5,797 homeless people – all of whom are excluded from the housing market – were counted, including 4,216 adults and 1,581 accompanying children. The Charleroi district counted the highest number of homeless people (2,515), followed by Namur (2,073) and Verviers (1,209).
The counts carried out since 2020 highlight some common findings: a third of those counted are women who spend the night in temporary accommodation with family or friends. Half of them have children who share their housing situation.
In addition, almost a third of those counted have suspected mental health problems (29.2%) and addiction problems (28.7%). Mental disability was suspected in 7% of those surveyed.
Both people with mental health problems and those with addictions are more likely to have Belgian nationality and are over-represented in the 30-50 age category. Finally, more than half of those with addictions have been homeless for more than a year. In 30% of cases, they have been homeless for over two years.
Ending homelessness 'not a pipe dream'
"This counting exercise is at the heart of the Walloon Government's action to ensure that everyone has a dignified and stable place to live. Homelessness reflects persistent inequalities and inadequate access to fundamental rights," declared Yves Coppieters, the regional minister responsible for combating poverty.
In ratifying the Lisbon Declaration, Belgium committed itself to end homelessness by 2030. "We need to give ourselves the means to achieve this, which includes basing our policies on reliable, high-quality data that can be used at all levels of government," he added.
Coppieters stated that "these figures clearly demonstrate the need for structural approaches, not only at municipal level, but also at regional and federal levels, to build a truly coordinated strategy to combat homelessness."
"Putting an end to homelessness is not a pipe dream," he concluded, calling on towns and cities that have not yet taken part to join in future counts.
By 2025, 35 European cities will be carrying out counts. Thanks to Walloon and European funding, CIRTES UCLouvain will be supporting four territories in Wallonia and two in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.
