As Brussels plunges further into the depths of winter, social policy advocates say that government services are not specific or inclusive enough to help female rough sleepers, which leaves many out in the cold.
Cindy Meirsschaut describes women living on the streets of Brussels as prey. “There’s a reason why almost all the women experiencing homelessness are in relationships,” she says from within the Circé Centre – a day centre accommodating up to 60 individuals daily experiencing homelessness at the Parvis de Saint-Gilles in the Belgian capital.


This part of the city is heaving with trouble: thefts, knife crime and drug busts. Near where this interview took place, this journalist noticed outside the day centre a sticker plastered on a lamppost saying in French: “Last night, a baby slept here.” It’s no wonder why this homelessness service sprung up here, and why someone like Cindy Meirsschaut would have an opinion about it.
Cindy Meirsschaut draws on her own experience as someone who slept in doorways and on benches in Charleroi, a city near Belgium, for almost half a decade to come to this conclusion. “When I was experiencing homelessness, I always had a boyfriend,” she says. “It was not because I was in love or anything. It was for protection.”
Needing a significant other to weather the harsh reality of homelessness is one gender-specific requirement impacting female rough sleepers in Belgium. And while experts recently put the wider Brussels unhoused population figure at roughly 10,000, it is unclear how many women were counted and what their circumstances are. According to research, female homelessness is often invisible due to a myriad of factors. This makes helping them challenging.
But people like Cindy Meirsschaut, a former rough sleeper and now lived experience advocate, offer insight. Cindy Meirsschaut got the keys to her government-funded social housing accommodation in 2017. Her solution, however, came after a long line of other failures. “Programs are often directed at specific types of people,” she says. “I did not tick all the boxes.”
After seven years of strife, and with a desire to help other women like herself, Cindy Meirsschaut now works as a foundational member of the Circé Center. Before the space opened its doors in 2022, she co-constructed parts of the program with women from similar backgrounds. Clients using the centre today can take warm showers or wash their clothes; eat hot meals and browse for garments. Social workers are regularly available, as well as midwives. Yoga is also an option.

“I would have loved to have a place like this one,” Cindy Meirsschaut says. Despite all of the shiny amenities, her favourite thing is a sleeping patron, totally at ease. “If I see a girl who has fallen asleep on the sofas here and even snored, I am happy,” Cindy Meirsschaut says, smiling. “It means that they are completely relaxed.”
What do the data and experts say?
European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) policy officer Dalma Fabian says that women experiencing homelessness are “invisible” in data, policy and practice. Dalma Fabian works for the only European non-governmental organisation focussing solely on eradicating homelessness and says that women will do things while on the street that keep them from being counted as part of government data collection – as well as being out of the public eye. They may dress in an androgynous way and sleep on a friend or relative’s couch, all the while avoiding certain locations. “They won’t always frequent the same place as men, and data focuses on the places where men are,” Dalma Fabian says during a phone interview.
The policy expert says that if the authorities were to look at official homelessness metrics for Belgium, and if you defined “homelessness” as someone accessing solely homelessness services or shelters, “you will have a substantially higher number of men”. However, if you broaden the definition, and, for example, count single mothers sleeping on friends’ couches, “then you are more likely to find a fifty-fifty split,” Dalma Fabian says.
But even if the women were counted and included, treating female homelessness in the same way as male homelessness is not always a fruitful pursuit. “[Women] need different kinds of support when exiting homelessness as they have different psychological and physical safety needs,” Dalma Fabian says. An example of this is the widely understood notion that domestic violence is one of the main drivers forcing women out of their homes and onto the streets. But service providers may not design their resources to best address this Dalma Fabian says. However, if more women with lived experience are allowed to be heard in the social housing advocacy space, there would be better results. “They are the real experts; they know the services,” she adds. “Women’s health and recognising an unhealthy relationship should be at the forefront when providing services.
Dalma Fabian says that almost all homelessness services accommodate all genders, leaving many women feeling unsafe and subsequently unhoused. She also says that if the European Union wants to eradicate homelessness by 2030 – as per a recent declaration signed by all member states – national governments and service providers need to be clued in and deliver adequate support for all those unhoused. “We work with our members to make sure that they also continue to pressure their government to develop strategies and action to end homelessness,” she says.
Women understanding women
When Awatif Majid founded the Belgian-based homelessness organisation Job Dignity in 2017, she says it was the first clients who accessed the program that shaped it the most profoundly. “During a workshop, the women asked if they could avoid being mixed with men,” says Awatif Majid, from the office’s headquarters located in Les Grands Hospices in the city centre.

Since then, the not-for-profit has also spiralled to distribute food, as well as offer amenities, such as services at the day centre and project incubator space. Awatif Majid knows that there are still needs that are not being met with Job Dignity, and she is aiming to expand her services to offer residential opportunities. She envisages it being a space where people can get a hot meal, a bed and adequate mental health support. But this has impacted her financial situation, as she cites lagging government funding as a reason why she can’t expand sooner.
Despite this, Awatif Majid estimates she’s delivered five million parcels of food in rain, hail or shine. “They wait hours for 15 euros worth of food,” Awatif Majid says, inferring the long lines and little resources. “However, we explained to them that we were now giving priority to mothers, and everybody understood,” she adds.
Cindy Meirsschaut at Circé Centre also knows that there is a certain kind of understanding that permeates amid the female homeless space. At her day centre, she often does not divulge her history as someone who slept on the street for four years to her clients and only lets slip this information in certain situations. “It is only when they come to me and tell me something that I can say that I lived something similar, that what she is experiencing is dramatic and that we can hold on together,” she says.
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If you or someone you know is experiencing homelessness and you need support, contact Samusocial’s telephone helpline (toll-free number) at 0800/99.340.
If you notice a rough sleeper suffering from the winter elements and they need urgent medical help, contact 112 and stay with them until help arrives.
This article was produced by a youth community journalist and supported by the YoCoJoin partnership. YoCoJoin received EU funding from Creative Europe.