Project news
Project
A Place to Be-Come Seraing, Belgium
Edit 19 October 2021
by City of Seraing

Towards a better quality of social services in Seraing ?

Towards a better quality of social services in Seraing ?
Within the framework of the UIA project "A Place to Be-Come", a first social diagnosis was carried out before construction of the new day shelter, in order to improve the accompaniment of precarious people. A second diagnosis was carried out. It is part of the same approach aiming to optimize quality of services offered to citizens. It highlighted four significant and priority issues: housing, health, precariousness and socio-professional integration. These results will allow us to orientate three research-action projects and to propose concrete solutions that respond to reality on the ground.

One of the objectives of the UIA project "A Place to Be-Come" is to identify missing links in the territory in order to encourage implementation of new services and/or partnerships, and thus to respond as closely as possible to citizen’s needs for support at each stage of his life. A mapping of associations and services available to Seresian citizens has been carried out to make existing support services visible. It is made available to social action professionals in order to help them identify seresian social field in which they operate and to improve citizen’s care.

In parallel with this mapping work, an initial social diagnosis was carried out during the construction of the new day shelter. It targeted people living in precarious conditions, whether or not they use the day shelter, and professionals directly concerned with this public. The qualitative analysis allowed us to establish recommendations and courses of action to improve support for people in precarious situations in the context of this building construction.

This second diagnosis is in line with the first one and highlights problems and missing links that were raised by different public or associative structures, concerning the care of Seresians.

Four major issues emerged from the analysis: housing, health, precariousness and socio-professional integration. These issues are particularly prevalent in most of comments made by professionals in the field. This echoes the first study, which presented a similar finding.

In housing, we note access to housing: waiting lists are getting longer for social housing and private landlords are reluctant to rent their house to people receiving CPAS benefits. In addition, there is the problem of substandard housing, offered at lower prices, which is the only housing that this precarious public can afford. The search for "autonomous housing" is also very complicated because, in addition to previous problems, there are problems related to minority age. The problem of emergency and transit housing is also part of the missing links. Finally, although there are various services in Seraing that deal with housing problem, they are very scattered within the municipality. The population does not always know where to turn.

Health is not a priority for public. However, a bad health condition can worsen and have disastrous consequences if it is not taken care of early enough. It is in the area of mental health that professionals feel the most helpless. It is important to remember that health requires urgent and immediate attention to all its dimensions.

Poverty: for many people, pushing the door of a help structure is an ordeal. As a result, they are slow to find the competent services and associations, which creates new difficulties in their situation.

Finally, the problem of socio-professional integration concerns the lack of places in the proposed training courses and the lack of available jobs. It is therefore impossible to offer a professional integration project to all Seresians. Moreover, the public concerned by professional integration is mostly made up of people who have never had a job. The social integration project represents their first steps in active life for many years. This is a population that needs to find its bearings, acquire a rhythm of life and regain its self-confidence. Finally, we can link the theme of socio-professional integration to that of school dropout. Indeed, social exclusion can also result from the lack of education and/or training experienced by the public at an early age.

This diagnosis constitutes the beginning of a research-action work which will allow to set up concrete actions on the ground answering the identified needs. The three research-actions will focus on the issues of housing, health, and socio-professional integration.

Find the complete diagnosis in French here.

Share

Other news from this project

Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

Adapt to climate change starting from green areas

The APTBC project has invested significant efforts in improving the parks in the central neighbourhoods of Seraing, which are the least green areas of...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

The future of the first creative station in Seraing

This article is based on an interview with Aurélie Portois, currently project coordinator at the Maison du Peuple, and on some preliminary drafts cont...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

A Place To Be-Come journal 4

While the project was concluded in August 2023, this final issue of the journal offers a critical reflection on the challenges faced during implementa...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

The final event of the APTBC project as a moment of collective sharing

This article is about the final event of the APTBC project, which took place in June 2023. The article presents how the results, ambitions and expecta...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

APTBC impacts according to project partners - ZOOM IN

The project A Place to Be-Come has recently closed. Ahead of the final event, all the project partners have shared their ideas about what the project’...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

Encouraging residents to use and become familiar with their local green areas

One goal of the project is to improve residents’ relationship with their local parks. This improvement involves on the one side improving the material...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

A pilot project's legacy

'La Ruche à projets' has stopped being the APTBC temporary creative hub in central Seraing. However, it will not close its doors and its role as a com...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

A Place To Be-Come: journal 3

The third edition of the journal covers almost the entire 2022. The implementation of most of the project actions has been completed and the remaining...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing La Ruche à projets

What it takes to raise a community in Seraing

The A Place To Be-Come project is built around one great idea: that inclusion can be promoted by building a community of local citizens eager to devel...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
A creative station to promote social inclusion and diversity

A creative station to promote social inclusion and diversity

Last March we launched the second call for projects to occupy « La Ruche », our first creative station. This was an opportunity for project leaders to...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

Under what conditions can we assure a real access to green areas in Seraing?

The city of Seraing has a bold plan to redevelop its post-industrial territory after decades of decline. In particular, some urban projects, such as a...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Empowering citizen’s projects through our first Creative Station

Empowering citizen’s projects through our first Creative Station

Last December, A Place to Be-Come launched a call for projects to occupy the first Creative Station « La Ruche ». This was an opportunity for project ...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

Co-designing a new day-shelter to improve access to low-threshold care in Seraing’s central neighbourhoods

In Seraing, two shelters welcome people experiencing homelessness or great discomfort associated with instable and precarious conditions of life. The ...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

APTBC Journal 2: how the puzzle is assembling as an increasingly coherent whole

This second journal covers the year 2021, between the first year and a half and second year and a half of implementation of the A Place To Be-Come pro...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Img boite des idées

A new citizen's space in Seraing: methodology and experiments facing the Covid period

In its objective to fight against all forms of precariousness and urban poverty, the A Place to Be-Come project aims to open several citizen spaces. I...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

Seraing meets Turin: the power of sharing stories

Last October, a delegation composed by three members of the APTBC project management team, two city officials from Seraing and the UIA expert spent th...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

Seraing resumes its long journey of commoning where it all began

La Maison du Peuple was built in 1916 in Seraing as a gathering place for the working class. “Before, social-democrat activists gathered in the old th...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
group photo

New ambassadors for green spaces sustainable management

For one year now, workers hired by the C.P.A.S under Art.60 contract have been maintaining 3 parks in the center of Seraing: Parc des Marêts, Parc Mor...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

How a Place to Be-Come is transforming local parks while addressing social exclusion - ZOOM IN

On February 2020, the Centre Public d’Action Social (CPAS) - the local institution that delivers social aid - and the project partner Natagora - a gra...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
City of serainf survey map

Shops and services in Seraing: what do inhabitants and users want?

A Place to Be-Come project aims to improve citizen’s quality of life in the center of Seraing by relying on a participatory process. The objective is ...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

How the pandemic diluted the project and how we learnt to stay put, but actively

Julien Bebronne and Lauranne Liégeois are respectively APTBC coordinator and project officer for Arebs, the municipal agency in charge of the project ...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
How do Seresians perceive their green spaces?

How do Seresians perceive their green spaces?

‘A Place to Be-Come’ project initiated in Seraing since September 2019 aims to fight against poverty by proposing an inclusive and innovative urban pl...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

Improving citizens’ relationship with their environment to promote social inclusion, or the A Place To Be-Come’s boldest ambition

In this journal, UIA expert Francesca Ansaloni provides an account of difficulties, challenges and achievements of A Place To Be-Come's first year of ...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
Seraing - A Place to Be-Come project

Go transdisciplinary and flexible! The A Place To Be-Come way to learning

A Place To Be-Come aims to tackle urban poverty in Seraing by investing in people and the enhancement of their well-being. This goal is expected to be...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium

Urban poverty
When socioprofessional inclusion goes with biodiversity

When socioprofessional inclusion goes with biodiversity

The project “A Place to Be-Come” is taking place in Seraing since September 2019. It was initiated by the nonprofit organization Arebs (Association fo...

A Place to Be-Come

Urban poverty

Seraing - Belgium