Flanders is offering housing to Walloon flood victims, using available space in assisted living facilities in Limburg and Flemish Brabant, according to various reports in Belgian media.
Flemish Health Minister Wouter Beke (CD&V) has commissioned an inventory of available housing with the approval of Flemish Prime Minister Jan Jambon (N-VA).
“With this appeal, we are investigating the extent to which it is possible to provide shelter for flood victims,” Minister Beke explained.
“We want to get an overview of the number of available assisted living facilities that can be used for emergency accommodation for people whose own homes have become uninhabitable because of the floods.”
There are 718 recognised homes in the south of the province of Limburg and 346 in Flemish Brabant, according to Het Belang van Limburg.
The idea is then to transfer the list of available units in each of them to the self-help platform set up by the Walloon government, as well as to insurers.
“The evaluation will have to be done on an individual basis,” a spokesperson for the minister told Le Soir.
“It is up to the people to say whether they are interested or not. It seems logical that they would prefer to find a solution in their own region first.”
The flooding in Belgium last month claimed the lives of at least 32 people, and thousands lost their homes.
The Brussels Times
