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Thematic bibliography: Housing

Housing is one of the major challenges facing Brussels. It raises many questions, which have been addressed in some twenty articles and synopses published since the creation of Brussels Studies. Master plans and other urban development plans, gentrification, policies to retain the middle classes, co-housing, social housing, evictions and homelessness are just some of the issues which have been studied. This thematic bibliography invites you to return to the archives of Brussels Studies and (re)discover the reflections and results published on the theme of housing.

Current situation

BERNARD Nicolas, ZIMMER Pol and SURKIN Johan, 2009. Housing, control over land use and public space, in: Brussels Studies, Synopses – Citizens' Forum of Brussels No 6, 19/01/2009. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/924; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.924

This first synopsis from the Citizens' Forum of Brussels held in 2009 presents a number of observations: rents are an ever-increasing drain on household budgets, the number of social housing units is dramatically insufficient, a large number of dwellings remain empty, and the Brussels Region has very limited control over land use. The authors also suggest courses of political action.

DESSOUROUX Christian, BENSLIMAN Rachida, BERNARD Nicolas, DE LAET Sarah, DEMONTY François, MARISSAL Pierre and SURKYN Johan, 2016. Housing in Brussels: diagnosis and challenges, in: Brussels Studies, Synopses, No 99, 06/06/2016. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1346; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.1346

This synopsis is an update of the 2009 findings. It reveals the various facets of the housing issue in Brussels from several different perspectives (demographic, legal, political, sociological). It presents a wide range of knowledge and issues. The synopsis highlights the different dimensions of housing in the context of population growth and social fragmentation, reveals the controversies and debates surrounding it, and points to the main challenges for the future.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/3681

Public policies

DECROLY Jean-Michel and VAN CRIEKINGEN, 2009. The Brussels International Development Plan (IDP). Real estate development promises and growing inequalities? In: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 25, 11/05/2009. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/646; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.646

For several years now, as a city-region, Brussels has been developing its own management planning tools. This is the case of the Regional Development Plan (PRD), which proposes a comprehensive city project defined democratically. At the end of 2007, a new plan came into being: the International Development Plan (IDP). In this article, Jean-Michel Decroly and Mathieu Van Criekingen question the compatibility of these two plans, which are presented by the government as complementary. For them, the IDP is essentially the formalisation of a strategy focused on developing large areas of the region for private property speculation, intended to act as a new lever for urban "revitalisation".

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/3488

DELMOTTE Florence, HUBERT Michel and TULKENS Francois, 2009. The master plans: what comes next?, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 30, 12/10/2009. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/698; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.698

Based on an empirical study of several cases, including the emblematic state administrative district, Florence Delmotte, Michel Hubert and François Tulkens examine the "master plan" tool, which was relatively new at the time. The administrative complexity, the opposing interests of the public and private sectors, and the difficulty in establishing true participation by local residents all undermine the efficiency of a tool which – when all is said and done – has no binding value. Instead of recommending the elimination of this mechanism – which is likely to bring about the urban planning reorientations necessary for the development of certain areas and functions critical to the city – the authors outline possible avenues for its improvement.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/3530

ROMAINVILLE Alice, 2010. Who benefits from home ownership support policies in Brussels?, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 34, 25/01/2010. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/739; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.739

This article looks at the home ownership support policies implemented by the Brussels Region to channel private investment in certain working-class neighbourhoods by private developers and a higher-income population. The analysis shows that these measures are based on vague objectives. As a result, the objectives of residential appeal and social diversity are interpreted in different ways, leading to fluctuations in the policies implemented, which are sometimes aimed at middle income households, and other times at those with very modest means. This hesitation is accompanied by a geographical dualisation of the effects of these measures. The tools aimed at middle income households are used mainly in the central neighbourhoods, in particular along the canal, whereas the measures intended for the most disadvantaged households cause migrations from the central areas to the western part of the Region.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/3572

BERNARD Nicolas and LEMAIRE Valérie, 2015. The regionalisation of the “housing bonus”: towards a policy adapted to the Brussels context?, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 83, 26/01/2015. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1251; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.1251

The sixth state reform has made the Regions competent as regards the taxation of mortgage loans for one’s “own and sole” home. Commonly referred to as the “housing bonus”, this system benefits many taxpayers. It is nevertheless the object of criticism, which is analysed in this article.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/3550

ANANIAN Priscilla, 2016. Housing production in Brussels: the neighbourhood city to stand the test of urban densification, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 107, 19/12/2016. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1457; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.1457

In recent years, housing densification in the Brussels-Capital Region has become an urban development issue and tool to cope with population growth and the widening gap between supply and demand as regards social and middle income housing. The choice of location is crucial in order to meet these challenges, identified in particular in the Sustainable Regional Development Plan project. Yet, with a social housing stock of 39 000 dwellings and more than 45 000 prospective tenant households, public property developers do not seem to consider location as a priority criterion when deciding on new housing operations in the region. In this article, Priscilla Ananian analyses public and private housing production since 1989 with regard to the evolution of the city project.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/3716

BERNARD Nicolas and TRAVERSA Edoardo, 2022. Having the private sector build social housing. The unsuspected levers of the Brussels Region in terms of VAT, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 164, 23/01/2022. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/5869; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.5869

There is a dramatic lack of social housing in the Brussels Region, as we know. While the VAT system undoubtedly benefits the public production of social housing (by granting a reduced rate of 6%), it does not help private operators or associations which also have the vocation to provide housing at a modest price (without going through a social housing agency). Moreover, this differentiated VAT system violates two fundamental legal principles: equal treatment and tax neutrality (according to which two similar operations in terms of their results must be subject to a similar tax regime). This article examines the levers of action available to the Brussels Region, even though this tax falls within the remit of the federal government.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/5933

BERNS Hannah, LENEL Emmanuelle, SCHAUT Christine and VAN HAMME Gilles, 2022. Towards a paradigm shift in the residential appeal policy of the Brussels-Capital Region, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 172, 09/10/2022. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/6192; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.6192

This article looks at one of the central issues of the Brussels-Capital Region since it was formed in 1989: the migration of the middle classes to the outskirts. After 30 years, it is clear that policies aimed at keeping average households in BCR have failed. The authors show that this failure is the result of an error with respect to the target (average households with children) as well as the means (the emphasis on ownership), denying the reality of the city as a place of transition: on the one hand, average households with children represent only a moderate fraction of departures and are particularly difficult to retain in a dense urban environment; on the other hand, access to ownership hardly seems to be an effective means of anchoring the population. This article therefore proposes a paradigm shift: acknowledge that the city is a place of transition and determine which groups BCR could seek to attract as well as the means to achieve this.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/6258

Living in the city

LELUBRE Marjorie, 2012. Female homelessness in Brussels: an evolution in need of clarification, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 62, 29/10/2012. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1110; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.1110

The increase in the number of homeless women in the 2010s is actually clearer in absolute numbers than in relative terms. Female homelessness is therefore a development which needs to be clarified, qualified and contextualised. While precariousness affects women as much as men, the relatively lower presence of women on the streets and in emergency shelters can be explained by several concomitant phenomena. The residential background is different for men and women in difficulty. Women have a greater use of an informal network. On the street, they have a desire to remain invisible, which makes it harder to keep track of their numbers. The way social services are organised means that as a priority, women are directed towards long-term accommodation structures such as shelters, and are therefore more often houseless rather than homeless.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/3662

BILANDE Arnaud, DAL Cynthia, DAMAY Ludivine, DELMOTTE Florence, NEUWELS Julie, SCHAUT Christine and WIBRIN Anne-Laure, 2016. The Tivoli sustainable neighbourhood: a new way of building the city in Brussels?, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 100, 13/06/2016. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/1354; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.1354

In Brussels and elsewhere, the reference to sustainable development has made its way in public policies. With its 400 housing units, its park and an economic centre dedicated to “green” companies, the “Tivoli” sustainable neighbourhood project is one of the most ambitious in Brussels. This article summarises part of the work of a research group on sustainable neighbourhoods, based on four themes: 1) the reorganisation of public action and “governance”; 2) participation at the heart of the sustainable project; 3) the connections between architecture and the model of the sustainable city; and 4) the appropriation of sustainable living in two other projects in Brussels. For the authors, the Tivoli project reveals (new?) approaches which question more broadly the methods of building the contemporary city.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/3698

QUITTELIER Benoit and HORVAT Nicolas, 2019. Homeless and inadequately housed people in the Brussels-Capital Region, in: Brussels Studies, Fact Sheets, No 140, 04/11/2019. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/3944; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.3944

This fact sheet presents the data from the fifth census of homeless and inadequately housed people in the Brussels-Capital Region. The results of this census supplement a ten-year study. This article presents the methodology used and the main trends observed. It also proposes some elements for analysis which could shed light on the evolution of the phenomenon.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/3984

LENEL Emmanuelle, DEMONTY François and SCHAUT Christine, 2020. Contemporary cohousing experiments in the Brussels-Capital Region, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 142, 10/02/2020. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/4172; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.4172

In recent years, cohousing projects have flourished in Brussels, particularly in the central working-class neighbourhoods, with the support of associations and certain political stakeholders. This article takes a closer look at the reasons for their success. Based on a two-year field survey of nine cohousing projects, it also analyses the architectural typologies associated with them and the ideological principles underlying them, as well as the uses made of them by the residents. In particular, the article highlights the discrepancies which may exist between a spatial vocabulary based on the desire to promote the creation of community life, and the uses and expectations of the targeted disadvantaged population.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/4265

GODART Pernelle, SWYNGEDOUW Eva, VAN CRIEKINGEN Mathieu and VAN HEUR Bas, 2023. Housing evictions in Brussels: how many, who and where?, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 176, 12/02/2023. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/6434; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.6434

How many households are evicted from their homes each year in Brussels? What is known about the profile of evicted tenants and landlords who have called for an eviction? Are some parts of the city more affected than others? Although they constitute an extreme case of deprivation of the right to housing, evictions from housing in Brussels are still very poorly documented. This article aims to address this lack of knowledge by providing a comprehensive snapshot of judicial evictions over one year (2018) for the entire Brussels Region.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/6658

CASIER Charlotte, 2023. Coliving, or the financialisation of houses in Brussels, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 179, 23/04/2023. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/6781; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.6781

Coliving in Brussels consists in the renting of rooms in a building with shared spaces and services by private companies. With its furnished and flexible "all-inclusive" formula, this niche market is growing rapidly and is aimed especially at young expatriates in Brussels. In this article, geographer Charlotte Casier analyses the recent development of this type of housing supply.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/6854

Aurelie De Smet, Burak Pak, Yves Schoonjans and Geraldine Bruyneel, 2023. The right place. Finding locations for the co-creation of temporary affordable housing through the Solidary Mobile Housing Pilot Project, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 184, 24/09/2023. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/7040; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.7040

In recent years, many cities have begun experimenting with the temporary use of “waiting spaces” as a tool for upgrading the city. Some civil society organisations see this as an opportunity to address the pressing demand for more and higher quality affordable housing. But how does this work in practice? Based on the experience of a participatory action-research project involving homeless people, this article examines the possibilities and limits of using unoccupied or underused spaces to provide an immediate (although partial and short-term) response to the current affordable housing crisis.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/7093

Social and property transformations in Brussels neighbourhoods

VAN CRIEKINGEN Mathieu, 2006. What is happening to Brussels’ inner-city neighbourhoods?, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 1, 12/12/2006. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/293; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.293

In the first issue of Brussels Studies, Mathieu Van Criekingen analyses the gentrification of the working-class neighbourhoods of Brussels: who is drawn to them, who settles there; who leaves them, who is driven out, and where do they go? Using figures from the 2001 Socio-economic survey, the author paints a contrasting picture of this phenomenon, which is based in particular on the displacement of disadvantaged populations.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/4347

BERNARD Nicolas, 2008. The impact of the European Union on real estate in Brussels: between stereotype and underestimate, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 21, published online on 8 September 2008, accessed on 17 May 2023. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/609; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.609

While it is true that the presence of European institutions is partly responsible for the rise in property prices, the author invites us to broaden our thinking and consider actions which could help remedy the difficulties experienced by the less well-off in their search for housing. For example, the public authorities make little or no use of the levers of action available to them (taxation of abandoned buildings, public management rights, requisitioning rights, etc.). Moreover, rent allowances and a rent control system do not exist in Brussels, and its social housing stock is extremely small.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/3477

MARTENS Albert, 2009. Ten years of expropriations and evictions in the Brussels North Quarter (19651975): what are the legacies today?, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 29, 05/10/2009. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/685; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.685‑

Albert Martens – professor emeritus at KU Leuven and a key figure in the North district struggle alongside the residents – analyses the characteristics of this conflict. 11,000 people were living in a 53-hectare area in the municipalities of Brussels, Schaerbeek and Saint-Josse-ten-Noode when a colossal project involving the destruction of over 40 blocks was launched. There were plans to build 80 towers ranging from 18 to 162 metres in height. This project led to a major conflict. Politicians and the press – won over by a grandiose modernist project and no doubt overwhelmed by the scale of the interests at stake – followed in the footsteps of the developers. For their part, the residents who could not afford to leave took action to save their neighbourhood or, at the very least, to be rehoused, but to no avail.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/3510

SACCO Muriel, 2010. Cureghem: from demolition to revitalisation, in: Brussels Studies, General collection, No 43, 25/10/2010. Available at: http://journals.openedition.org/brussels/808; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/brussels.808

Cureghem is an emblematic Brussels neighbourhood which often suffers from a negative image. It is strongly stigmatised as a place of insecurity and poor quality of life. Muriel Sacco examines the role of local public policy in the creation of such a neighbourhood. How is it that, despite the six neighbourhood contracts implemented since 1997, the situation is still as it is? Cureghem is a neighbourhood of transit, where people arriving in Brussels settle temporarily. It has taken the brunt of the effects of deindustrialisation. Identified as a source of problems with a population categorised as being dangerous, it was deliberately neglected by the municipal authorities until the mid-1990s.

Read the press release: https://journals.openedition.org/brussels/3642

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