Almost 200,000 people are on a waiting list for social housing in Flanders, the highest figure ever. Among the 199,085 candidates, more than half are single people.
The Flemish government has earmarked 6 billion euros for social housing during this term of office. Housing minister Melissa Depraetere, of socialists Vooruit, has promised a new binding social objective that will take effect in 2026 and set the minimum effort municipalities must make.
“In every municipality in every province, people are waiting for housing,” Depraetere said. “In recent years, the policy has been too lax for municipalities that did not do their part and thus abandoned their residents.”
Municipalities that do not contribute to improving the availability of affordable housing will have to contribute to the rent subsidy for those on a waiting list.
Since March 2024, people have been able to add their names to an online register, a centralised platform where new tenants can submit their candidacy and existing candidates can reconfirm their registration.
“In every municipality in every province, people are waiting for housing”
“Almost 200,000 families are looking for affordable housing,” Depraetere said. “It’s good that we now have an update of the waiting list. This allows us to better estimate who needs housing and where. In the meantime, they have to rent on the private market, but that puts pressure on their purchasing power. We really need to avoid that.”
Limited budgets
Just over half of prospective tenants are single people. “Singles on a limited budget have a hard time on the rental market because they cannot share the costs and have to compete against hundreds of other candidates,” said Depraetere. “A social housing unit is the ideal way for them to live affordably, but many homes are not suitable for singles.”
The figures show large differences across the region: 34 per cent of prospective tenants live in Antwerp province, with 11 and 12 per cent in Flemish Brabant and Limburg respectively.
Europe recently reprimanded Flanders for its social housing policy. The EU is not enforcing any measures, but wants the region to act. Depraetere has instructed municipal housing organisations to focus on building more housing and tackling vacancies.
