Antwerp (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Three families are in the same Left Bank emergency village in Antwerp, and they have also been served an order to quit the premises by the justice of the peace. This emerged when the municipal councillor Joke Laukens of the Groen party asked the mayor of the city Els van Doesburg of the N-VA party.
The justice of peace has now evicted three Ukrainian families living in the emergency village on the Left Bank of Antwerp. This decision came after the city had served the residents a notice of a default which was due to their failure to leave the temporary shelter by February 7, 2025.
At the early stage, there were 312 people living in the emergency village; however, its population was reduced to 116 in 28 units. Mayor Els van Doesburg of N-VA said that evictions will be implemented 14 days after served writs but no families were reported to have been evicted yet. The Groen party has expressed some concern as to where all these families, including children, will go since they will also be moved out.
For 3 cases, an eviction was pronounced,
said mayor Els van Doesburg (N-VA).
That eviction will take place 14 days after the service of the judgment, but that has not happened yet. 3 cases were stopped because a solution was found, for the remaining 9 we are still waiting for a ruling.
For the opposition party Groen, the question remains of where those families will go if they are suddenly evicted from their emergency housing.
It seems like they just have to make their own plans,
says council member Joke Laukens.
Those are probably families with children who end up on the streets.
According to Laukens, there is no reason to put those people on the street.
Why do they have to be put under so much pressure?,
she wonders.
There are currently 145 Ukrainian refugees living in a former hotel in Borgerhout, but the lease there runs until April 2026. For them, a similar procedure will follow as on Linkeroever. Strange that things have to go less quickly in Borgerhout.
What led to the eviction of Ukrainian refugees in Antwerp’s emergency village?
The emergency village located near the Left Bank of Belgium’s city of Antwerp was created in February 2023 in order to accommodate Ukrainian refugees escaping the war. Originally, it had the capacity to house more than 1200 residents, but today, there are only 116, 28 of them occupying each of the twenty-eight units available now. At first, the Belgian authorities granted temporary protection to Ukrainians; however, as the program came to a close, the authorities set the date of February 7, 2025, for people to be out of the country.
The city subsequently served notices of default to those still occupying the site; hence, legal action was taken. Five of the 15 families sued; three of them have been ordered to vacate their houses, the others are still awaiting the court’s decision or have managed to get new houses. Still, 145 refugees are housed in a converted Borgerhout hotel by lease until April 2026, thereby raising concerns about selective enforcement. According to the officials in Antwerp, the situation is that the emergency village needs to be repurposed, however, opponents of these decisions are sure that in such an approach, families, along with children, may not have anywhere to live.
