The works took three years, and on Thursday the renovated Ulysse Centre in Bonnevoie was officially unveiled. Alongside a classic reception facility offering short-term shelter for homeless people, a new Housing First concept will also provide accommodation for an indefinite period.
From this month on, 23 beds will be available at the renovated Ulysse Centre for those without a home who are in urgent need of help. The Kairos Centre, which means "right, opportune, or critical moment" in Ancient Greek, is also built around the Housing First approach.
Family Minister Max Hahn explained that the Kairos Centre aims to open up new perspectives for people who have been homeless for a long time, within a Housing First framework that comes with social rights. Existing concepts in Luxembourg, he said, have not taken hold for this group, which is precisely where the new effort is being focused.
The initiative will provide people with better support on their way back to a stable life.
The Kairos Centre offers 22 beds, where people without housing can stay for a longer stretch of time and receive support to regain their autonomy and step out of precarity.
Hahn was clear that this initiative should not end at the Kairos Centre. The Housing First concept, he said, is one he would like to see rolled out across the whole country, with even one or two flats sometimes enough to make a difference.
It does not need to take the form of 22 units gathered together as at Kairos, he added, but can also work as smaller Housing First units, where even a modest number of places can have a real impact, and where every one of the country's 100 municipalities can lend a hand.
Everything in this and other shelters for the homeless should only be seen as a temporary step along the way, he said, and not a permanent solution. Quite the opposite, he added, the goal is for some people to be able to move on from this situation within just a few days, with the help of intensive social support.
In the renovated buildings, greater attention has been paid to privacy, in order to further reinforce residents' sense of autonomy. The cost of the works comes to almost 15 million euros.
