Nearly half of all social housing in Flanders is occupied by single-person households, according to data requested by Flemish MP Gijs Degrande (N-VA).
The five-yearly Housing Survey reveals that 49% of tenants and 26% of homeowners in Flanders are single, a proportion which has remained stable since 2018. At the same time, singles are financially more vulnerable in the housing market. Degrande notes that 30% of single-person households and single parents spend over 30% of their income on housing, compared to just 8% for couples without children and 15% for couples with children.
Single-person households also represent a significant share of recipients of housing support measures in Flanders. In 2025, they accounted for 77% of those receiving a rent guarantee loan, whether with or without children. Furthermore, in 2024, single tenants received 14,267 rent allowances (61% of the total) and 15,560 rent subsidies (71%).
By the end of 2024, 72,347 singles without children and 14,721 singles with children were living in social housing, making up a total of 87,068 single tenants out of 177,461 social rental properties—around 49%.
“Single households already account for 37% of Flemish households, and this share is expected to grow further by 2035,” says Degrande. “While singles take out nearly half of the region’s housing loans, the data highlight that affordable housing remains a greater challenge for them. This calls for more affordable, smaller homes, fewer barriers to new housing projects, and a more efficient use of existing social housing to better match supply with real demand.”
