A total of 44 Flemish municipalities have applied for a full or partial exemption from their social housing obligations, according to figures obtained by Green MP Nadia Naji.
The figures were reported by De Morgen on Tuesday and also appeared in Het Laatste Nieuws.
In April, the Flemish government unveiled a plan to build 56,000 additional social homes by 2042. Under the so-called Binding Social Objective, 45,000 of those homes were allocated across 285 Flemish cities and municipalities. Funding would also be made available for a further 11,000 social homes, which local authorities could choose to build voluntarily.
The aim was to help municipalities clear their historical shortfalls in social housing.
So far, 44 municipalities have requested a full or partial exemption from the Binding Social Objective. Together, they were still expected to build 3,355 social rental homes to make up their backlog. The municipalities involved include Brasschaat, Koksijde, Aalter and Grimbergen.
Earlier this week, it also emerged that 23 mayors from the Flemish periphery around Brussels planned to take their case to the Council of State. They argue that the social housing obligations imposed by the government place too much weight on the influx of newcomers from the capital. In their view, they should not be required to build additional social housing for people from Brussels.
Flemish Housing Minister Melissa Depraetere described the development as “incomprehensible”, according to comments from her cabinet published in the newspapers. “Flanders is currently providing a historically high budget to build social housing. The only thing we are asking mayors to do is get to work with it. By appealing against this, they are acting against the interests of their own vulnerable residents,” her cabinet said.
On the exemption requests, Depraetere’s cabinet said not all applications would automatically be fully approved. “Some requests may, for example, be insufficiently substantiated.”
The intention is to reach a decision on each municipality in the near future. According to the minister, the target of 56,000 additional social homes is not at risk.
