Our JOSEFA House

In order to live out and accept our migrations, we need two fundamental conditions: time and space…

The Josefa House wants to fulfil these conditions, in the heart of Europe, in Brussels: a time, today and tomorrow, urban and resilient, in the downtown core, at the crossroads.

The challenge is twofold: both temporal and spiritual, tangible and intangible. In 2011, the plans for the Josefa House were designed: we prepared the Josefa initiative based on the intuition that we are "all migrants" and that a reciprocal hospitality towards refugees opens a new path for our societies. Then the house took shape in Brussels, in Ixelles, in 2015.

So along the way, during one of the most important historical events of our time[1], faced with the issues related to migration, it is time to develop and live out the Josefa House, in Brussels, the capital of Europe.

With the help of public and private partners, the Josefa House wants to promote an ethical and sustainable togetherness, around a co-integration between refugees and other people who have not experienced a forced migration. A "Solidarity Habitat", it is trying to reconcile all the dimensions (social, economic, cultural and convictional) specific to our humanity.

Arranged around a beautiful garden in the centre of Brussels, the 42 housing units will be a residential ecosystem, enriched with a medical space, a restaurant, a cultural centre and a meditation space.

The planning permit for the transformation of the "Josefa House" (2,450 m2) was granted. Therefore, the coming months are crucial if we do not want to delay the development plans of the buildings and the societal impact and duplicability stages of the Josefa House, in Belgium and in Europe.

To do this, we must, together, let ourselves be united with co-investors open to the Josefa proposal: on the basis of current availability[2], our fundraising continues.

Moved by the innovative contribution and the merits of Josefa’s comprehensive approach, we can then personally contribute funds or invite a network of relationships that could contribute materially or financially.

To go further, Josefa therefore needs you, us, "all migrants".

Given the current events and historical challenges we are facing in Europe, and in Belgium in particular, we need your active participation.


1 More than a million people – refugees and other migrants – crossed the Mediterranean in 2015. Around the world, the year 2015 witnessed an unprecedented situation of forced displacement. These movements have resulted from conflicts and persecutions affecting people that have been uprooted: refugees, asylum seekers and persons forced to flee within their own country. In 2015, the total number of refugees in the world substantially exceeded the threshold of 20 million, and asylum applications are surging while the number of people displaced within their own country jumped by more than two million to reach a total of more than 45 million. Today, one human being out of 120 is a person who has been forced into exile. Sources: UNHCR. 2015.

2 The structure and governance of the Josefa Foundation, its current partners and its hundred contributors are already a strong sign of our path of commitment.