€73 million is allocated in the total budgets of the GGC and the COCOF to help homeless people. A budget that will have doubled during this 2019-2024 legislature, led by the PS-DéFI-Ecolo coalition in the Brussels-Capital Region. At the same time, the number of homeless people has also doubled.
Reducing homelessness, truly a priority for this government? According to Bruss'Help, some 7,200 people are currently homeless in our Region, 18% of whom are women and 13.7% minors.
As usual, the Brussels government is trying to absolve itself of its responsibilities. This majority waves the federal scapegoat to mask the failure of its own policies, invoking the reception crisis. Yet it omits to mention that 43% of homeless people are Belgian nationals, for whom the question of status does not arise. And yet no lasting solution has emerged. Not to mention the substantial federal support of €20 million.
All indicators are in the red. In this regard, the OECD has just issued a scathing report on Brussels regional policies, particularly regarding public finance management, mobility, governance and access to decent, affordable housing. This study highlights the failure of social housing stock management. Must we remind the 50 shades of left that human dignity cannot be satisfied with the calamitous management of unhealthy social housing? Too many situations liken the public authority to a slum landlord!
Admittedly, the Brussels government has invested in temporary solutions such as emergency accommodation, temporary occupation of empty buildings, transit housing and hotel accommodation schemes since 2019. These temporary solutions not only leave people in precariousness but, in the longer term, affect their psychosocial well-being.
In the Brussels-Capital Region, 53.8% of homeless people have been homeless for a year or more, and 34.5% for more than two years! The figures and the duration are rising, and this concerns me.
According to the findings of a 2022 study by ULB's Department of Applied Economics (DULBEA), rehousing homeless people would not be more expensive than continuing to manage homelessness. Other public policies are possible. What is needed is the will, and then the political impetus!
The shades of the left sing in unison that the solution would be rent controls. This would, as if by magic, solve the whole issue of access to affordable housing. And too bad for property rights and landlords' costs. As if adding another layer to drive away the middle classes, those who fill the region's coffers, but for how much longer?
Homelessness is not inevitable. We must work on the causes, in a context of impoverishment and property pressure. The right to housing is a matter of human dignity. It is enshrined in our constitution. The MR brings solutions. For 15 years, liberals have advocated for the rent allowance, which this majority is finally adopting. Today it benefits 11,000 people, in a win-win logic for tenant and owner.
It is not buildings that Brussels lacks. Public-private partnerships have proven their effectiveness. The region has 2.5 million m² of empty space. It is political priorities that are out of step with citizens' expectations and the challenges of today and tomorrow. We must give ourselves the means, despite the abysmal financial difficulties into which the government has plunged the region.
After 20 years of mismanagement, it is more than time to close the encyclopaedia of left-wing policy failures.
Latifa Aït-Baala
Brussels MP