Author
B. Housing contains sections on:
2. Conditions in reception facilities
Over the course of 2015 – 2024 the reception network has undergone several changes. The number of available places has been very dynamic in this period and is interlinked with the number of applications for international protection in Belgium. After the peak of applicants for international protection in 2015, the capacity peaked at 33,659 places. In 2018, after a steady decrease in the number of international protection applicants, the capacity was reduced to 21,343. This decrease in places was mainly reached by closing emergency shelter and individual reception facilities. When applications for international protection reached a first peak again in 2019, the reception network had to increase its capacity again in a very short timeframe. The capacity being too limited, the Immigration office was forced to refuse the applications for international protection of asylum applicants and thus their access to the reception system (see Right to shelter and assignment to a centre). This situation also led to the introduction of new instructions by Fedasil limiting the reception conditions for several categories of asylum applicants (see and Right to reception: Applicants with a protection status in another EU Member State).[1]
Applications for international protection and number of reception places in Belgium (2008 – 2024), based on data from CGRS and Fedasil.
Due to the constant change in capacity, local governments were subsequently asked to open a reception facility, close it and re-open it later. They denounced this ‘yoyo-policy’ in November 2019, indicating that they were no longer willing to open new reception facilities. They demanded a more structural, long-term policy for the reception network that can absorb the fluctuating numbers of applications for international protection.[2] In November 2020 the Secretary of State for migration issued a Policy Note on asylum and migration, establishing as a priority the development of a stable but flexible reception system, in order to meet the demands of the local governments.[3]
However, since September 2021, the reception network has been under enormous pressure, the occupancy rate being at 96% for months (the saturation capacity at 94%) (see Constraints to the right to shelter). Possibilities of opening new reception places were urgently examined by the Belgian government and Fedasil and several new reception centres – some structural, some emergency shelters opened in the last months. However, these were insufficient to provide reception for all applicants needing shelter.[4] Difficulties are encountered especially due to the remaining unwillingness of local administrations to accept opening centres on their territory.[5]
At the end of 2024 the reception network had a capacity of 36,307 places.[6] Although 3,796 new places were created in 2024, 2,622 places closed, resulting in a net amount of 1,174 newly opened places. The overall number of places was largely insufficient to provide reception to all asylum applicants in need. The reception crisis persisted throughout 2024, with a total of 10,191 persons with a reception need not being able to get a reception place; an increase of 1,375 compared to 2023. In the beginning of 2025, 2,947 were registered on the waiting list of Fedasil, waiting to get access to a reception place. The average waiting time is 4 months.[7]
The new Federal government aims at further decreasing the number of places in the reception network and wants to end accommodation in individual reception places, prioritising reception in collective centres with sober living conditions.[8] The Director of Fedasil has warned for this policy, pleading for a flexible use of centres by decreasing the number of places without closing down centres (“dynamic buffer policy”).[9]
[1] Fedasil, ‘Sluiting 7 centra uitgesteld’, 2 October 2018, available in Dutch at https://bit.ly/2RfAANv; De Morgen, ’Opvangcentra zitten overvol door grotere instroom: tenten voor asielzoekers weer in beeld’, 16 November 2018, avaialble in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/2Wzhu91; Fedasil, ‘Druk op opvangnetwerk steeds hoger’, 8 November 2019, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/384yGry.
[2] De Standaard, ‘Lokale besturen zijn jojo-effect asielopvang beu’, 13 November 2019, available in Dutch here.
[3] Chamber of Representatives, Doc 1580/014, Policy Note on asylum and migration, 04 November 2020, available in Dutch/French at: https://bit.ly/3c9hy9z.
[4] The Brussels Time, Closed Hotel Mercure in Evere becomes reception center for asylum applicants, 9 December 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3vRM81n; Bruzz, Gesloten Hotel Mercure in Evere wordt opvangplaats asielzoekers, 9 December 2021, https://bit.ly/3KuFUZh; Bruzz, Opvangcentrum voor 40 asielzoekers opent in Elsene, 24 December 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3hU3JNW.
[5] Examples: De Morgen, Resistance against reception centre in Jabbeke: ‘This is a residential area. All that noise doesn’t belong here, right?’, 22 October 2022, available in Dutch at: https://bit.ly/49cc0VJ; VRT Nws, Municipality of Spa demands via legal penalties reception of less asylum applicants, 24 december 2021, available in Dutch at https://bit.ly/3IWIitc; De Standaard, Noodopvang in Glaaien kan morgen openen, 2 December 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3vOIrcV; De Tijd, Mahdi krijgt voorlopig geen grip op opvangcrisis, 28 October 2021, available at: https://bit.ly/3Crx0Jn.
[6] Fedasil, A reception network under pressure, 15 February 2024, available in English at: https://bit.ly/49cc4or.
[7] Consortium of NGO’s, ‘Non-reception policy – Dashboard January-December 2024’, available in Dutch here and in French here.
[8] Belgian Federal government agreement 2025-2029, 31 January 2025, available in Dutch here and in French here.
[9] De Tijd, ‘Fedasil-director Pieter Spinnenwijn: “We cannot make the same mistake of massively closing asylum centres”, 26 February 2025, available in Dutch here.