Emergency help and healthcare without papers in Belgium: shelter, Humanitarian Hub, urgent medical aid

Information checked on 2 November 2026.

In an emergency in Belgium, call 112 (ambulance, fire brigade), 101 (police) or 1733 (out-of-hours doctor). Homeless in Brussels? Call Samusocial on 0800 99 340. To get healthcare without a residence permit, the public route is urgent medical aid (AMU), requested from the CPAS (public social welfare centre); in the meantime, Médecins du Monde (CASO Brussels), the Red Cross Refugee Medical Point and the Humanitarian Hub see people excluded from care.

This article lists emergency help, shelter and healthcare for undocumented people in Belgium. For residence, asylum and family reunification, read our guide to organisations helping foreigners in Belgium.

Compatri presents these organisations to point you in the right direction. It is linked to none of them.

Emergency numbers

If your life or a loved one's is in danger, call straight away.

Who does what: the summary table

Emergency shelter in Brussels, Wallonia and Flanders

Samusocial, in Brussels

Samusocial is an emergency social service for people with no housing solution. Its teams go out to people sleeping rough and offer emergency shelter, care, psychosocial support, meals and showers. It also runs a medical centre and psychiatric follow-up.

Places are limited, especially for single men. At the end of September 2026, Samusocial closed its WTC centre, which housed single men. Call as early as you can.

BelRefugees, the Citizens' Platform

Born in 2015 from a citizens' movement as the Plateforme citoyenne de soutien aux réfugiés, BelRefugees (formerly BXLRefugees) has more than 500 active volunteers and 250 employees. It provided 422,078 overnight stays in 2024. It offers:

• emergency shelter in Brussels, collective shelters run by volunteers in Walloon Brabant and Hesbaye-Liège, and hosting with citizens for families;
• a day centre in Péruwelz (Wallonie picarde) and the Welc'HOME in Louvain-la-Neuve;
• an information service, SISA, and social, legal and psychosocial drop-in sessions.

It welcomes people on the move, homeless people, unaccompanied minors, single women and families with children. Contact points are on its help page.

In Flanders: the CAWs

In Flanders, the general welfare centres (CAW) deal with housing and emergency shelter (the "wonen en opvang" theme) and with residence questions. Their help is free and confidential, by phone, chat, e-mail or at a CAW house.

Asylum seekers without a reception place

Reception of applicants for international protection is organised by Fedasil, the federal public agency, in centres run in particular by the Belgian Red Cross and Rode Kruis-Vlaanderen. In practice, Médecins du Monde counts among its patients in Brussels applicants for international protection whom Fedasil has left without support. If this is your case, go to the Humanitarian Hub and to a legal organisation (CIRÉ, ADDE, SIREAS or the Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen Infolijn, presented in our guide to organisations helping foreigners in Belgium).

The Humanitarian Hub, in Brussels

Set up in 2017, the Humanitarian Hub is a day centre run by a consortium: Médecins du Monde (lead), the Belgian Red Cross and BelRefugees. It offers "an unconditional welcome to everyone":

• wifi and phone charging, meals, showers, clothing;
• medical and midwife consultations, mental health care;
• restoring family links;
• social, legal and administrative help, and support for unaccompanied foreign minors;
• referral to specialised partners.

In 2024 the day centre recorded 111,236 visits; around 60% of the people received are applying for international protection.

Healthcare without papers in Belgium

Free care centres

• CASO Brussels (Médecins du Monde, since 2008): general practice, specialists, dental care, mental health, socio-legal advice and referral. It welcomes people excluded from the health system, notably in cases of "no residence permit or a lost one". Its aim is to bring you back to ordinary care, not to replace it.
• Médibus: Médecins du Monde's mobile service in Brussels. The organisation also holds consultations in emergency shelters, and runs projects in Flanders (a care centre in Antwerp) and Wallonia.
• Refugee Medical Point (Belgian Red Cross, Brussels): "free and unconditional access to primary care" for people in precarious situations, mostly recently arrived applicants for international protection without accommodation. General consultations, referral to specialists, psychological support, administrative help to get costs covered.

Urgent medical aid (AMU) through the CPAS

According to the PPS Social Integration, people "who do not have, or no longer have, a right of residence in Belgium can only receive Urgent Medical Aid" (AMU). Despite its name, the urgent nature is certified by a doctor or dentist approved by INAMI and "cannot be confused with an emergency in the medical sense of the word".

How it works, according to the official guide for CPAS:

If the CPAS refuses or delays, get help from a legal organisation or from the legal aid office (see our guide to organisations helping foreigners in Belgium).

Medimmigrant, to understand your right to care

Medimmigrant provides information on access to care for people with precarious residence: who pays for care (CPAS, Fedasil, others), residence or return in case of illness, multilingual factsheets. It answers by phone (including a free number) and by e-mail, for people who live or work in the Brussels Region. It has no walk-in service. Contact details are on its contact page.

Once you obtain a residence permit, the next step is joining a health insurance fund: our article health insurance fund in Belgium for newcomers explains how.

Finding a relative lost along the way

The Belgian Red Cross's Restoring Family Links service helps people living in Belgium find a relative they were separated from by war, disaster or migration. The request is handled during an interview, by phone, in person or by video call, with an interpreter if needed. The Humanitarian Hub also offers this service.

Beware of scams

In an emergency you are more vulnerable. Remember this.

- The services listed here are free or public. No one should charge you for an emergency shelter place, a consultation at CASO or an AMU file.

- A serious association never promises a residence permit. Only the administration decides.

- Be wary of housing or work offers "without papers" that ask for an advance, or that keep your passport.

- Never hand the original of your passport to an intermediary. Keep copies of your documents, and a record of every step.

Your compatriots can help too

An association responds to the emergency. Compatriots already settled often know a doctor, a shelter or a local association, and speak your language. On Compatri, join your country's community in your city: Congolese in Belgium, Cameroonians in Belgium, and all communities in Belgium. The associations directory also lists diaspora associations in Belgium, and our article on mutual help between compatriots explains how to ask for help without embarrassment.

Organisations in other countries are gathered in our guide organisations helping foreigners in Europe and the Americas, and those of the neighbouring country in organisations helping foreigners in Luxembourg. Once things are stable, our guide to finding housing in Belgium takes over.

Sources

• 112.be: emergency numbers in Belgium
• Samusocial (Brussels)
• BelRefugees, Plateforme citoyenne de soutien aux réfugiés
• Médecins du Monde: Humanitarian Hub
• Médecins du Monde: CASO Brussels
• Médecins du Monde Belgium
• Médecins du Monde: projects in Brussels
• Belgian Red Cross: access to healthcare
• Belgian Red Cross: restoring family links
• Rode Kruis-Vlaanderen: reception of applicants for international protection
• Medimmigrant
• Medimmigrant: contact
• PPS Social Integration (PrimaBook): MediPrima and the CPAS
• CAW: migration
• Fedasil: reception of asylum seekers