Belgium Probes Social Housing Fraud: Hundreds Own Property Abroad

According to this survey, 322 recipients of social housing, including 186 residing in Limburg, have acquired real estate abroad in the last two years. A fraud that is difficult to prove, especially since the companies in charge of granting these social housing units cannot access the data of foreign land registers.

Thus, 677 recipients of social housing granted by 35 housing companies were the subject of an investigation between March 2021 and December 2022 to verify if they own real estate abroad. As a result, 295 respondents own real estate in Morocco, 243 in Turkey and 68 in Italy. "These are not worthless agricultural plots that the tenants have inherited, but real estate," Diependaele told De Standaard.

The minister has decided to extend this investigation conducted by private agencies for one more year to identify fraudsters in other provinces like Antwerp. "We cannot tolerate this. Social housing must be allocated to tenants who are entitled to it. We are working towards more justice in the market," the Flemish minister concluded.