One in five adult homeless people in Flanders and Wallonia is not yet 25 years old. The Mediahuis newspapers write this on the basis of a study by the King Baudouin Foundation.
Of the 6,286 homeless people counted in nine Flemish and Walloon cities at the end of 2020 and the beginning of 2021, 1,208 were young adults. That’s 19.2 percent or about one in five. The count took place in Leuven, Ghent and Charleroi, among others.
The main causes of these young adults ending up on the streets, according to the study, are conflict with family or friends, relationship problems, immigration and psychological problems.
Young adults who do not have a roof over their heads are more likely to live in hidden homelessness. That means, for example, that they spend the night in their car or surf from sofa to sofa with friends or family. Four in ten are women compared to just under thirty percent in the older group.
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