Shortage of social housing in Brussels fuels the far-right in the periphery

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Johan Leman, 23 September 2024

The dynamic is not hard to demonstrate. Rental prices in the neighborhoods of the Brussels canal zone are skyrocketing. You can quickly find yourself paying 1000 euros per month for a two-room apartment, and for families looking for a flat with space for 3 to 5 children, it’s becoming impossible to find. A homeowner who might consider offering an apartment through a social agency in the streets near the canal loses at least 200 euros a month by not renting it privately.

In such a situation, it’s not surprising that families move away. This doesn’t happen to the municipalities immediately outside Brussels at the edge, but rather a bit further out, where rents are still affordable—towards villages like Aalst and Ninove, for example.

There, people rooted in a traditional Flemish village life suddenly see people arriving who speak different languages, have different skin colors, and often speak little or no Dutch. People for whom even a Flemish family from another village is sometimes already considered “outsiders” to them, are unprepared for the situation.

There is a logic to the way policy feeds the far-right. But does anyone want to break that logic? Or does Brussels prefer developers who mainly aim to attract a wealthier class? A better balance will have to be found.

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