Last year, at least 82 homeless people died on the streets of Brussels. The figures come from “Collectief Straatdoden”, a group that organises an annual memorial ceremony for homeless people and former homeless people that have died. As in previous years, the number of street deaths rose again last year.
Brussels remembers 82 homeless people that died last year on the capital’s streets
Published:
Collectief Straatdoden was set up in 2004 to collect data on and organise funerals for homeless people that die on the streets of our capital city. The collective comprises not only social and medical professionals, but also people who themselves are currently living on the streets.
Together, they try to find the identity of deceased homeless people, find people who knew the person, and also arrange funerals for homeless people that have died. In 2023, the Collectief Straatdoden organised some 40 funeral ceremonies. It also works with local communities to repatriate a homeless person of foreign descent’s remains if that was the deceased's wish, or if it is the wish of their next of kin.
Since 2006, the Collective has also organised an annual commemorative ceremony at at Brussels City Hall. During the ceremony street deaths and deaths of homeless people or people that were once homeless during the previous year are remembered.
Rise in the number of homeless
In 2023, 82 (former)homeless people died in Brussels. This is 3 more than during the previous year, and 12 more than in 2020. However, this figure doesn’t give the whole picture as Collectief Straatdoden is not aware of every death.
The number of homeless people in the capital has risen sharply in recent years. In 2022 there were 7,134 homeless or badly housed people in Brussels. This is an increase of almost 20% on 2020. Figures for 2023 are expected at the end of this year.
64 of the 82 deceased were men, 12 were women. Of six deceased, the person’s sex could not be ascertained. The youngest homeless person that died was 18 years old, the oldest 80. Not all those that died died on the streets. Some died in hospital, in an emergency shelter or in a metro station.
The remembrance ceremony not only focuses on those who were homeless at the time of their death, but also on those who, throughout their lives, once lived on the streets.