'BOOM-café,' one of the last self-organised and non-for-profit spaces in Brussels centre, is at risk of being evicted as it will no longer be able to afford the rent, now that the authorities of the City of Brussels have doubled it.
The café started in 2015 with the aim of creating a warm place where quality sustainable products are combined with social, cultural and ecological involvement. Now, however, the café is confronted with an owner who wants to almost double the rent "in line with the market."
"That owner is not a private individual, but the Land Agency of the City of Brussels, a municipal government agency," the association posted in a statement on its website, asking people for support with the hashtag #SaveBoomCafé.
In the statement, the café denounced the fact that such commercial logic permeates a government agency. "They should hold the common good in high esteem. This is part of a homogenisation of the city, where large commercial brands dominate and where neither the 'ordinary' citizen nor associative projects can survive."
Not a café like any other
According to them, the city of Brussels focuses on financial added value and ignores social added value, which the association views as much more important for a city and a life on a human scale. "Whoever considers this project, this space, as yet another company in their real estate portfolio and only values the profitability of our property, forgets that 'Boom' is not a café like any other, but an associative space."
The staff is made up exclusively of volunteers, making it a self-managing and participatory project. As a non-profit space aiming for solidarity, it makes its premises available for numerous activities and meetings of associations and collectives (Dutch, French and other languages), and allows emerging artists to perform. It also supports initiatives for sustainable food, social economy, the environment, responsible urban planning, decent housing, gender equality, and solidarity financing, among others.
"We refuse to bow to this commercial logic and want to remain a place where everyone can feel welcome, with quality products (organic, fair trade and local) at low prices, in a friendly place where the person serving you does it for pleasure and not because they are paid," they said.
The café's income hardly covers its current costs, but it is not dependent on subsidies and wants to remain that way. "The property management gave us an ultimatum on 15 December (today) to leave the building if we do not accept the new rent."
Therefore, the café is calling on people to support them by sending an e-mail to the Property Management Agency and copying in the mayor and city councillor, signing the petition and sharing the message via social media with the hashtag #SaveBoomCafé.
