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How NGOs help undocumented migrants to access housing in Belgium
Recent research revealed that only a small group of
undocumented migrants depend on NGOs for accommodation or rent deposit. It are
mostly rejected asylum seekers who find their way to NGOs since it is very
likely that during the asylum procedure they already were in contact with NGOs.
Most undocumented migrants who have never been in a procedure will rely on their
own networks.[1]
Short term solutions
Eric Wynants from Point
d’Appui (in Liège), the only organization in Wallonia that publicly
displays itself as helping solely undocumented people, feels powerless with
regards to helping people in their search for accommodation (Point
d’Appui has no accommodation of its own). He estimates to have satisfied
around 1/50 of the requests he’s received for housing help, and usually only
for a very short period in night shelters. Only very seldom is Point
d’Appui able to place a person or family in accommodation provided by
another organization or a religious community. However, Eric Wynants admits that
these are no long-term structural solutions but rather a way to save time and
postpone the problems until later: if a person is housed for a year, after that
year it is likely to still be undocumented.
The main reason Point
d’Appui is unable to combine its legal and material help with providing
accommodation is financial, but also due to the fact that it verges on
illegality. It receives funds from private donations (especially the Church),
the municipality of Liège, and the Walloon Regional Government. Nonetheless,
Wynants is afraid that for example with a shift in politics, his organization
will stop receiving public funding (for the moment, there is a green Regional
Minister for Social Affairs and Health, who is sensitive on the issue). He is
the only paid person within the organization, while eight administrative as well
as other volunteers are working there as well.
[1] Adam, I., “The Social and Economic Situation of
Undocumented Migrants in Belgium” in PICUM. Book
of Solidarity (Volume I): Providing Assistance to Undocumented Migrants in
Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK. Brussels: PICUM, 2002