“The Brussels Vivaldi coalition majority fails to detect and tackle fraud in social housing”

The Brussels housing market has a shortage of social housing, with more than 50,000 families on the waiting list. It has recently become clear that the average waiting time for obtaining social housing in Brussels is now almost 12 years. Yet this left-wing majority refuses to support social housing companies; they are not allowing the companies to collaborate with investigating agencies to track down the real estate properties owned by social tenants abroad. “By leaving social fraudsters - who actually have no right to social housing - completely untouched, the Brussels Government is indirectly encouraging such fraud. In the meantime, those who really need social housing are being left out in the cold for years.”

“Considering the waiting times for obtaining social housing, it is particularly distorted to note that the Brussels Government is completely bypassing social fraudsters, in spite of the fact that they have no right to social housing. However, various judgments and rulings of both courts and courts of appeal have already explicitly confirmed that foreign property searches are legally permitted and that social housing companies not only have the right but even the duty to investigate foreign properties because social housing is intended for those who are actually in need,” says Brussels MP Mathias Vanden Borre.

Moreover, figures in Flanders show that such cooperation with specialised private research agencies does indeed work. To date, 30 Flemish housing companies have already made use of such investigations in 18 different countries. Of the 421 investigations conducted, 189 yielded evidence of foreign real estate ownership. There was thus foreign ownership of property in 45% of the cases, which obviously makes the owners ineligible for social housing. In the province of Limburg, with a large number of inhabitants of Italian and Turkish origin, more than 8 out of 10 cases investigated (85 out of 104 investigations) actually involved houses abroad, mainly in Italy (37 cases) and Turkey (24 cases).

“It can logically be expected that in Brussels, too, many social tenants own properties abroad. Furthermore, the dissuasive effect of this measure must not be underestimated. As a result of these investigations, people who own property abroad will be less likely to apply for social housing. Nevertheless, our resolution was voted against in the committee by the majority, who apparently do not consider it important to fairly allocate social housing to those who really need it,” Mathias Vanden Borre concludes.