In Colfontaine, the MR group is engaging in an in-depth reflection on how a municipality can use its property assets to support employment, attract new residents and strengthen its finances in the long term. For Anthony Smets d'Alelio, municipal management can no longer be limited to selling buildings to generate immediate revenue: it must become a genuine tool for local development.
The MR is thus championing a property strategy built around two complementary pillars. On one hand, the creation of affordable housing for the middle class through smart partnerships between the public and private sectors. Through the long leasehold mechanism, the municipality could make certain strategic buildings or plots available to private investors to develop affordable housing, while remaining owner of the municipal assets. A way to stimulate investment without increasing public debt.
On the other hand, the MR wants to develop “stepping-stone housing” specifically aimed at young working people. The goal: to allow young households to start out in life with affordable housing for a limited period of four or five years. In return, beneficiaries would have to work and commit to investing sustainably in the municipality once the lease ends.
For the Reformers, this logic responds to an essential priority: supporting those who work and create value. By helping young working people settle, the municipality ultimately fosters the lasting settlement of new taxpayers, capable of contributing to the funding of local public services through municipal taxes and property tax.
This approach illustrates a deeply reformist vision of local development: using public tools to encourage economic activity, attract active households and build sustainable growth. For the MR, housing should not be viewed solely through a social lens, but also as a driver of attractiveness, employment and municipal dynamism.
Through this proposal, the MR of Colfontaine champions a clear idea: a municipality preparing for the future is one that invests in its middle class, supports work and builds smart partnerships with the private sector rather than managing in a state of urgency.
