Data appears to illustrate the scale of the problem of homelessness in Brussels.
The group “Bruss’help” conducted a survey of homeless people in the Brussels-Capital Region and 7,134 people were counted, which represents an 18.9 % increase since the last survey in 2020.
The organisers say, “This increase has once again raised many questions about the effectiveness of public policies for the prevention of homelessness.”
There is also the costs associated with homelessness measures such as shelters, emergency accommodation and street work.
These measures represented an approximate cost of over €65 million in 2021 for COCOM, COCOF and the federal government,
This figure does not include additional funding or private donations, for which data were not available. When this amount is divided by the number of homeless people in 2020 the organisers came to an average amount of €12,265 spent per homeless person in 2021.
“This amount may already seem significant. However, it does not take into account a series of other expenses incurred indirectly on behalf of the homeless.”
The data is contained in the 224 retrospective newsletter by “Brussels Studies”, a Brussels-based academic journal, and covers 2022, the period for which such data is available.
The total costs of homelessness can be divided into 4 categories: direct costs (related to services dedicated specifically to homeless people, indirect costs (services not dedicated specifically to homeless people), lost tax revenue (due to a person not paying taxes or contributions) and finally, the cost of lost years of life.
An analysis of the average frequency of use of these various services allows a total annual cost of the use of services per homeless person to be estimated at between €40,000 and €52,000, says the report.
Certain costs could not be included in the analysis, such as food aid or costs related to the criminal justice system, which implies an underestimation of the actual cost.
“We have thus established that the annual cost of homelessness varies between €30,000 and €85,000 per year, depending on the type of profile and the use of dedicated services.”
It goes on, “This study has brought to light an important fact: in certain cases, the cost of rehousing is lower than the cost of remaining homeless. While this finding may be surprising, it has merely confirmed the intuition of frontline staff.
“Living on the streets can also worsen the health of homeless people, thus increasing their needs, as the prevalence of problems related to mental health, physical health and substance use is higher for homeless people than it is for the general population.”
“On the other hand, once rehoused, a person may initially need more support and care, but thanks to better health, greater stability and possible employment, these needs may diminish over time, thus reducing costs.”
