In principle, it opens its doors 1 December and ends on 31 March. The emergency shelter is located in Findel. The WAK is a humanitarian action initiative which aims to prevent homeless people from falling victim to hypothermia during periods of extreme cold.
WAK has two buildings for the purpose of sheltering people who are forced to live on the street. Building A has several male and female dormitories, as well as family rooms. It can accommodate up to 250 people a night, says the ministry of family and integration in response to a parliamentary question.
Their second building is now used as covid isolation centre for the homeless.
The ministry goes on to describe the facilities in their main building, which “includes toilets and a large communal dinning area.”
Centre “very good” and “safe”
Peotrke has been in Luxembourg for 4 months. Delano
Peotrke is a Polish man who has spent 8 years living on the streets, 4 months of which were in Luxembourg. He had his papers stolen in Germany 3 years ago.
He described the centre as being “very good” and “safe” and said those who were in the shelter were constantly tested for covid-19 and that they had been vaccinated by the staff there, which he said he was grateful for.
The man who speaks four languages said the shelter fed everyone, provided showers and dorms for them to sleep. When asked about the number of people in the shelter he said he had never seen more than 100.
Peotrke then said how lucky he was to be in Luxembourg, because of “the beautiful city and the nice people”, adding that he no longer slept in the street or the shelter, as he had stuck up a friendship with a Polish chef who let him sleep and eat at his flat.
Peotrke said he was saving up to go back to Poland so he could pick up his papers and return to Luxembourg to find a job in construction--which he was sure he would find, once he had the required documentation.
From 23 November to 23 December the Winter Action occupancy rate for overnight accommodation in building A was 40% out of the 250 places available, stated the ministry. For the period from December 23 to January 23, 2022, the occupancy rate for the accommodation rate was just over 50%.
Over this entire period, WAK had an average of 113 people housed per night.