Anyone who lives in communal housing and is eligible for social housing will be able to choose to pay their rent at the same price as social rent, reported BX1 on Thursday.
In concrete terms, tenants who are registered on the waiting list for social housing with the Brussels Regional Housing Company (SLRB) will be able to benefit from a rent calculated according to social housing criteria, therefore taking into account household income. The council house rent is calculated on the basis of a price per m², which is more beneficial than that of the private market.
The difference between social and council housing is that the council is owned and allocated by the municipality, while social housing is usually a private-public partnership for affordable housing.
The municipality of Ixelles and the Brussels Region have identified 79 rents that could be socialised across its entire stock of 500 social housing units. “These are all households that could see their rents decrease if they decide to subscribe to this socialisation,” underlines the municipality.
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The system provides that the housing remains the property of the municipality and that the tenants continue to depend on the municipal rules.
It is the Municipal Property Department that is in contact with the tenants and will be responsible for proposing the socialisation of the rent. If the tenant no longer meets the conditions for social housing, he/she will revert to the conditions for communal housing.
The socialisation of rents is expected to take place in December 2022.
