Wallonia to Crack Down on Foreign Property Owners in Social Housing

"It is not normal to be able to benefit from social housing when you own property abroad," thunders Christophe Collignon (PS), Minister of Housing, who says he is in favor of a proactive fight against any form of fraud, social as well as fiscal. Wallonia wants to be inspired by Flanders, which has conducted a hunt against social housing tenants who own property abroad, which has proven fruitful. In total, two million euros were recovered. The Walloon Housing Company (SWL) has already contacted its Flemish counterpart to analyze its procedure.

Brussels, on the other hand, is not in the same dynamic. Launching these control operations with the help of specialized investigators "is not on the agenda," Yves Lemmens, director of the Société du Logement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale (SLRB), replies to La Dernière Heure. This program has very media-driven repercussions, but I don’t think it’s really social. We wonder what the real reason behind this frenzy is." Brussels’ position is justified by the fact that the city does not want to "go on a witch hunt," explains the PS-labeled director.

And he adds: "The investment would not be interesting. We do not consider social housing tenants as fraudsters. There are not enough of them and it would be socially penalizing."