Four months: that is the maximum time a status holder in Belgium is allowed to find a home. In contrast to the Netherlands, refugees with a residence permit have to look for suitable accommodation themselves. And that can lead to major problems. For example, many people end up in the buildings of slum landlords, and in some cases they end up on the streets.
If a refugee receives a residence permit in Belgium, he or she can stay in the asylum seekers’ center for two months, or with an extension for a maximum of four months. After that, a status holder has to leave. Home or not.
Although there is some help with looking for a home, it is very difficult to find something due to the shortage on the housing market. Last year, nearly 4,900 refugees received a residence permit. The Belgian government does not keep track of what happens to them. That is why there are no figures about how many find a home or end up on the street.
“We hear that some still live on the street,” says Didier Vanderslycke. He works for Orbit VZW, an organization that helps refugees and migrants. “The government says: ‘Just find a place to live here and we don’t care where you end up.'”
Difficult quest
Due to the great shortage of social rental housing, it is virtually impossible for a status holder to make a direct claim to this. So they have to look in the private sector. A work contract is often required there: something that most do not have in the beginning. Many employers again demand that an employee has a home, which means that many people fall between two stools.
According to Vanderslycke, refugees who eventually manage to find a home often pay a lot of money for a small space. Several Belgian municipalities recognize this problem. Status holders end up in houses owned by slum landlords, who maintain the property very poorly and try to rent out the space to as many people as possible. Raids are carried out regularly, but then those refugees often end up in exactly the same situation a few houses away.
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