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Croissance du sans-chez-soirisme à Bruxelles. Ce que montre le dénombrement de 2024

Notes de la rédaction

Ceci est le communiqué de presse relatif à l'article de Adèle Pierre publié le 11 février 2026. Accéder la publication.

Winter is a particularly challenging season for those without a home. In Brussels, the scale of the phenomenon, the profiles of those affected and the reasons for the absence of a home have been documented every two years through the count conducted by Bruss’help. Implemented in close collaboration with frontline organisations and social welfare institutions, the Brussels count relies on a mixed-methods approach combining a night-time census, institutional data and surveys. This approach makes it possible to document a wide range of homelessness situations, from survival on the streets to temporary accommodation with friends or relatives in the absence of a home of one's own.

The new publication by Brussels Studies – a fact sheet by Adèle Pierre (Bruss'help) – brings the findings of the most recent count back into focus. On the night of 6–7 November 2024, 9,777 homeless people were counted in the Brussels-Capital Region, corresponding to 7.8 per 1,000 inhabitants. This rate is significantly higher than those observed in Flanders (1.08 ‰) and Wallonia (2.97 ‰), highlighting both the scale of homelessness in Brussels and the acute housing crisis which underpins it.

Non-conventional housing – such as squats, informal occupations and non-accredited facilities – represents the largest category, accounting for 27 % of those counted, although these situations remain difficult to quantify due to their volatility. The number of people counted in public spaces (nearly one thousand, or 10 %) illustrates the steady increase in the most extreme forms of homelessness. Emergency accommodation has grown even more sharply, now representing 26 % of situations, in contrast to reception centres (shelters, socially supported hotel accommodation, etc.), whose share has stagnated at around 16 % due to limited capacity. Reception centres in particular, which accounted for 45 % of accommodation in 2008, now represent only 9 %, reducing access to sustained psychosocial support and hindering long-term exits from homelessness.

The duration of (very) precarious housing situations is another key finding of the biennial count. One quarter of people in emergency accommodation have been without a stable housing solution for more than a year, calling into question the idea that these facilities are intended exclusively for short-term stays.

In conclusion, the author calls on public authorities, at all levels of power, to seize upon the findings produced every two years by all those working with the homeless. She stresses the importance of these figures for understanding the realities on the ground, where many basic needs and rights are not being met. Addressing these issues is essential to building structural pathways out of homelessness and to moving beyond the current crisis management approach, in the face of trends which have been increasing steadily since the first count conducted in 2008.

Pour citer cet article
Pierre, A., « Croissance du sans-chez-soirisme à Bruxelles. Ce que montre le dénombrement de 2024 », Brussels Studies [En ligne], Fact Sheets, no°213, mis en ligne le 11 février 2026, URL : https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/8986
Contact
Tatiana Debroux, Rédactrice en chef :
tdebroux[at]brusselsstudies.be

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