The JOSEFA House, the story of our travels

Since 2015, the Josefa House has been working in a collegial fashion with various local socioeconomic stakeholders in Brussels in order to provide both housing accommodation and social support. The challenge is to respectfully adhere to an existing public policy (links with CPAS, Actiris) while offering quality housing and developing virtuous approaches to co-residence and to a whole range of services (dining, medical, cultural, meditation) open to the public…

The Josefa House insight, the living together, enriched by the hospitality of refugees, was thus conceived so that shared common areas would be the basis for social diversity and co-integration (inside as well as outside the Josefa House) and thus encourage reciprocity and solidarity among the users.

The functional diversity within the Josefa House is realized by reconciling the historical continuity of the buildings (re the educational program begun in 1952 by the Carmelites of Saint Joseph), the urban planning constraints (re the municipal and regional prescriptions contained in the planning permit for future renovations) and Josefa's innovation (the global approach to the human being and the socioeconomic co-integration experienced since the middle of 2015). Some spaces and services were thus rethought so as to adapt to the new functions and to meet the actual expectations or needs of the users.

So, the Josefa approach is underpinned by the adaptability and diversity of the spaces. At present, concerts, conferences and inter-convictional gatherings are held in the former Carmelite chapel. In future, the central space of the Josefa House will become a foyer, a meeting ground for the "passengers" of the House; as for the restaurant area, outside of its operating hours, it will be made available for meetings and conferences, so as to promote social bonds between residents and users of the Josefa House services.

The Josefa Foundation is convinced that the socioeconomic advantages that can be generated, in the long term, by a fair management of our migrations, resting on the existing expertise within the Josefa team in terms of asylum, migration and "human resources" management, stem from a global (material, psycho-intellectual and spiritual) approach: "All of us, migrants", resting on three pillars : the aesthetic, the ethical and the economic, which support the Josefa House.

This analysis is based on expertise (cf. the human resources that exist in and around the Josefa Foundation) and experience (acquired, among others, since the middle of 2015), and more widely on the cooperative spirit among the relevant set of stakeholders and partners.

This global approach aims at facilitating the emergence of a peaceful, ethical and sustainable "living together" for the present and future (within and outside the Josefa House), in contrast to the traditional models of integration which expect a "very quick" result: "The refugee should already be integrated into the host society even before arriving".

Actually, one of the values of the Josefa Foundation is the economic aspect of the Josefa House, the "oikonomos", which aims to prove that quality housing, as long as its joint management and administration are sustainable and universal, will have a positive impact on the city and its economy.

So, co-residence life, based on the challenges of our free or forced migrations, on a financial participation that is different for refugees and non-refugees, and on the involvement of contributors and/or investors in the real estate program, will lead to a renewal of the socioeconomic paradigm, meaning that migration can bear fruit both for refugees and the host society. A successful co-integration for refugees, within the Belgian economy, that is effective and sustainable for all parties concerned.

To succeed, each of our contributors or beneficiaries, and the residents in particular, must actively participate in the Josefa House. This participation can be human (volunteering, pro bono services, a responsible commitment), material (for example, corporate sponsorship) or financial (the residents, through their financial contribution, are granted a personal right of use; investors, through their investment and/or donations are granted a property right). The Josefa House invites us, migrants (refugees), to welcome each other and listen to our stories, to share our unique and particular travel itineraries, in the interest of the common good.