The Walloon Government approved on Thursday the allocation of a further €40 million in aid to enable the municipalities worst affected by the floods in July 2021 to rebuild public housing.
This regional aid is being made available through a special allocation made available to the municipalities, CPASs and public service housing companies impacted by the deconstruction of 409 homes.
"We have been faced with one of the greatest challenges in our Region: rehousing and helping thousands of people. To achieve this, every effort has been made to release substantial budgetary resources," said Walloon Minister for Housing, Christophe Collignon. "Today, this additional regional aid will make it possible, on the one hand, to reconstitute the public housing stock that has to be destroyed and, on the other, to support the municipalities and CPAS in their policy of redeploying public housing."
In detail, €19 million will be earmarked for municipalities and CPASs to enable them either to acquire or equip land with a view to creating public housing, or to create public housing through construction, renovation or acquisition.
Completely destroyed house along the river Vesdre in Pepinster, one year after the devastating floods that touched the region. Credit: Belga / Eric Lalmand
The remaining €21 million will go to the two public housing companies and the city of Limbourg, which are forced to rebuild public housing, after houses in the municipalities of Trooz and Limbourg were classified as being in a high flood hazard zone due to overflow or run-off.
Following the floods, the regional government has undertaken a policy of compulsory purchase for houses located in areas most likely to be affected by severe flooding in the future. Notably, numerous houses nearer the water in Pepinster have been demolished. Belgium has now drawn up new emergency response plans in the event of future flooding events.
