The Brussels-Capital Region has taken over a vacant family home in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre. This is the first time the Public Management Law (PML) has been activated to create more housing.
Brussels' Regional Housing Agency took over management of the building on Thursday 10 October using the PML which was reformed by Brussels State Secretary for Housing Nawal Ben Hamou (PS) in April 2023.
The reform stipulates that a building left vacant for at least 12 months may be taken over by the Region and used for social housing, without the property owner's consent if necessary. If the landlord does not put the property on the market after being contacted, the Agency is entitled to rent the property out after ensuring it is up to standard.
"The message to landlords is very clear: Brussels is going through an unprecedented housing crisis, and we cannot afford to leave properties unoccupied," Ben Hamou stated. "The PML will enable families to find decent accommodation and curb property speculation, which is disfiguring our neighbourhoods when many Brussels residents are struggling to find housing."
Aerial view of Brussels. Credit: Belga / Laurie Dieffembacq
'No one had ever dared'
The house in Woluwe-Saint-Pierre had been unoccupied since 2014 and legal proceedings began in April 2023. The landlord only accepted the deal when he was sent formal notice of the takeover, Ben Hamou said, adding that there are 50 similar ongoing cases.
Now that the property is under the Region's care, the Housing Agency may spend up to €1,100 per square metre on renovations and earn the money back through renting for up to nine years.
The Agency became aware of the property in question via research carried out by the universities VUB and ULB which cross-referenced factors such as water consumption and energy bills to identify empty properties. The project concluded that while there are around 4,500 vacant homes in Brussels, only between 0.7% and 4.6% of these cases are punishable by law.
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"No one had ever dared" to activate the PML law, Ben Hamou said when the ULB-VUB study was published in February.
Most political party programmes pledged to use vacant properties to meet housing needs in the run-up to local elections on Sunday.
In Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, the socialist PS-Vooruit-Citizens list campaigned on this issue, as did Ecolo-Groen and liberals Mouvement Réformateur (MR), Les Engagés and Open VLD.
