The Federal Government says that it intends to gradually end the practice of accommodating asylum seekers in hotel rooms. The decision was announced by The Federal Asylum and Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt (Flemish nationalist) in an interview with the commercial broadcaster VTM. Ms Van Bossuyt also said that this year there will be just under 40,000 asylum applications, the same number as in 2024.
In Sunday’s television interview Ms Van Bossuyt said that accommodation must be provided in conditions that are “dignified but modest, not hotel rooms”. The decision has been taken against a backdrop of a fall in the number of asylum applications in Belgium. This year the number of asylum applications is expected to remain stable compared with last year.
According to the minister, currently, around 380 asylum seekers are being housed in hotel rooms Ms Bossuyt was not specific about when the practice of housing asylum seekers in hotels will be ended completely. “I want this to happen as quickly as possible.”
Once this has been achieved Ms Van Bossuyt intends to then close local reception initiatives before reducing the number of collective asylum reception centres.
Earlier this year, a forecast model published by the Supply Chain Monitoring Unit predicted that the number of asylum applications this year could reach 50,000 if the previous government's asylum and migration policy remained unchanged. Ms Van Bossuyt says that thanks to the current Federal Government’s policies the figure will be around 40,000. EU figures show that the number of asylum applications in European Union has been falling since last September.