Hundreds of people protested in Brussels on Sunday afternoon, demanding access to “decent and affordable” housing as part of the European “Housing Actions Day.”
The organisers, including the Brussels Coalition for the Right to Housing (RBDH), are urging politicians to implement an ambitious plan to eradicate homelessness and significantly increase the number of social housing units in the capital.
Access to decent, affordable, and quality housing is “a fundamental right enshrined in the Belgian Constitution,” remind the organisers, which include the Walloon Coalition for the Right to Housing (RWDH), Inter-Environnement Bruxelles (iEB), and FéBUL. They argue that housing should not be treated as a commodity for profit.
“Today, in Belgium, thousands of people sleep on the streets while others buy properties to invest their money and make a profit,” highlights the RBDH. The organisation is concerned that many cannot afford rising private market rents while tens of thousands await social housing.
This national alliance of associations and collectives active in health, anti-poverty, urban rights, and housing rights firmly opposes accepting homelessness and inadequate housing as inevitable. “The current injustice results from political and societal choices,” it asserts.
They are calling for public authorities to massively increase social housing, halt evictions without rehousing, regulate rents, develop an ambitious plan to eradicate homelessness, and regularise undocumented individuals.
