The N-VA wants foreign property ownership screening of Brussels social tenants

The increasing poverty among the Brussels population, more than 60% of whom must make use of the rental market, means that ever more Brussels residents must turn to social housing. Today, more than 56,000 families are on a waiting list for social housing and have to wait an average of 12 years. That is a doubling in 15 years. The N-VA advocates a thorough approach to fraud, as in Flanders, to start managing existing social housing more efficiently.

It is important that existing social housing is managed efficiently and is only reserved for those who really need it. “I submitted a proposal this parliamentary term to tackle fraud thoroughly, including by making it possible to screen the foreign properties of social tenants. In Flanders, such an anti-fraud policy is achieving results. Since March 2021, the Flemish government has been facilitating the screening of properties abroad owned by social tenants through a framework agreement with a research agency. Of the approximately 1,000 property ownership screenings carried out to date, almost half of the cases revealed foreign ownership. Houses and flats in Turkey and Morocco are by far the most common. Housing corporations have already been able to recover almost EUR 3 million from frauds this way!

Tackling fraud is not a priority

Vanden Borre’s proposal, which called for this property ownership screening to be made possible in the capital as well, was unfortunately voted down by the entire majority. Apparently, tackling social frauds is not a priority for this Brussels government. Given the Flemish figures, I once again call on the Brussels government to facilitate similar property ownership screening in the capital.