As Belgium’s asylum centres are overflowing, the government decided last month to authorise the use of three government buildings for the temporary shelter of asylum seekers. The new places in Florennes are the first to be created within this framework.

State Secretary for Social Integration, Philippe Courard, visited the shelter for the asylum seekers in Florennes on Thursday. The military site already housed asylum seekers before the defence department made an extra building available for newly arrived immigrants, bringing the capacity up to 408.

At the moment many asylum seekers are staying in Belgian hotels. 

Apart from the extra asylum places in Florennes, 370 extra places will be made available in the former gendarme barracks in Ixelles, Brussels. In Tongeren, Limburg, renovations are underway to allow 125 more asylum seekers to find shelter.

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