The MR group in the Brussels Parliament today questioned the Secretary of State for Housing following revelations about the allocation practices for social housing within the Foyer Anderlechtois. Troubling details are piling up by the hour. The MR is calling for a parliamentary commission of inquiry and reaffirms its full commitment to fair, transparent and equitable social housing.
Brussels social housing counts more than 55,000 households on the waiting list, 42,000 dwellings managed by the SLRB, and a budget of €400 million planned for this legislature for the construction of more than 1,000 new public housing units.
Loubna Azghoud, MR group leader, states: “We must bring full clarity to all social housing allocation practices in Brussels. A commission of inquiry is the right tool: where ordinary committees run into professional secrecy, it will allow us to get to the bottom of things. We are not acting against social housing, but in favour of fair and equitable social policies, and for the thousands of families who have been waiting for years for a proper allocation.”
Louis de Clippele, MP: “Social housing is probably one of the public sectors where the requirement of exemplary conduct must be highest. Because it directly touches human dignity. Because it concerns citizens who are often already going through extremely difficult situations. And because it rests on a fundamental principle: equal treatment.
When a household submits a social housing application, it must have the certainty that its file will be handled objectively. It must have the certainty that the order of priorities is respected. It must have the certainty that no one can benefit from favouritism or preferential treatment.”
Amin El Boujdaini, MP: “Social housing is not a game, nor a system of cronyism.
We are talking about families in distress, people who sometimes wait decades to live with dignity. So yes, in the social sector one must be beyond reproach.
Every file must be handled honestly, with respect, according to real priorities, and certainly not through favours or special treatment.
And even less in exchange for votes.”
Gaëtan Van Goidsenhoven, MP: “The facts are serious. Message exchanges attributed to the chairman of the Foyer Anderlechtois reportedly reveal direct interventions in social housing allocation files and deliberate strategies to bypass administrative procedures. We are not putting anyone on trial, that is the role of the justice system. But Parliament also has a role: to understand how the regulations could have allowed such actions, and to remedy that.”
The MR group recalls that its sole objective is to protect Brussels residents who have been waiting for housing for 10, 15 or 20 years, and who have the right to the same rules for everyone. Defending social housing means precisely protecting it from those who have turned it into a tool of cronyism.