How does it actually work? These owners will hand over the management of their 49 and 33 housing units to the Schaerbeek Social Real Estate Agency (Asis). The latter then contacts a list of partner social services so that they can suggest tenants. “We work with a list of associations and there is a sort of turning point, develops Guillaume de Mayeur, president of Asis. Depending on the property, (house studio with several bedrooms, etc., Editor’s note) it’s not suitable for all audiences either. For example, we collaborate with Little NothingsStreet nurses, La Maison Rue Verte (for single women or with children) or RePR (reintegration of former prisoners). These partners, for their part, manage the social support of their beneficiaries.”
Promoters attracted
The AIS therefore signs a contract with the owners – here with large owners but just as well with smaller ones for a single accommodation – and then manages the entire rental part for them: finding tenants, collecting the rent and paying it back to the owner, inventory, etc.). The AIS guarantees the payment of rent to the owner, even in the event of default by tenants and covers rental damage. The owner is, in addition, exempt from property tax for the property placed under social management. It also benefits from increased bonuses for energy renovation.
The counterpart? The owner must agree to collect rent below private market prices. AIS rent is capped by the region. It may in particular be reduced depending on the condition of the property and therefore remains fixed by mutual agreement between the AIS and the owner while respecting the ceiling.
The rent paid by the tenant to the agency is different from the rent paid to the owner. It is also capped at a maximum but which is always below the rent ceiling received by the owner. It is the regional allocation to the AIS which allows the agencies to make up this differential for the owner. The rent paid by the tenant is fixed (and indexable) but is not established according to their income as in social housing.
Construction and renovation: “The shock was brutal for consumers”
Despite these two projects, the dynamism of this social model is experiencing a significant setback. Guillaume de Mayeur has noticed this for about two years. “The trend towards social management is reversing. Before, we didn’t need to approach new owners. Now we receive fewer and fewer calls and even the owners who contact us are finding it increasingly difficult to commit to the system.”
gull“Despite these projects, the dynamism of this social model is experiencing a significant setback.”
The main argument for not taking the plunge? “The gap which is widening more and more between the rent amounts on the private market, and the regulated rents practiced by the AIS. We must obviously not touch this rent control. Finding affordable housing in Brussels, like in other cities, it is already almost a mission impossible, but the explosion in private prices is more attractive to owners today. Before, AIS prices were more or less competitive with private ones given the advantages, but it is. This is less and less the case.”
FedAIS, the federation of 24 Brussels agencies, confirms the trend. In 2018, the federation had 5,529 housing units under AIS management, i.e. 785 more than the previous year, compared to an increase of only 206 in 2023. The break took place in particular after covid with 749 additional housing units in 2020 and only 419 l next year.
Figures for 2024 are not yet available but “we expect very weak growth,” assures the federation. The latter identifies several reasons for this in addition to the gap between AIS rents and private market rents. “As part of the renovation requirements decided by the Region, the energy renovation costs to be expected scare lessors and push them in particular to sell. In addition, we already feel that the temporary cessation of the right to bonuses for renovation (Renolution bonuses, Editor’s note) confirmed the uncertainty of owners regarding the sustainability of public aid. Finally, the large new housing projects which have largely contributed to the expansion of the AIS stock from 2018 are in decline, particularly with the increase in construction costs, and the addition of new conditions. (in terms of energy, parking spaces, etc.) to obtain a building permit.
However, the 24 AIS in Brussels were to be one of the “solutions” to quickly fill the glaring lack of social housing in Brussels. The system, which has existed for 30 years, is however contested by some since it subsidizes private owners with public money to maintain properties which themselves remain private. All this, instead of creating real public affordable housing.
Despite the situation, this process of socialization of the private real estate stock seems popular with the future regional majority. Both the Engagés and the MR and the PS have placed emphasis on increasing the number of properties managed by AIS in their program: via new tax incentives for the first two and via the assumption of responsibility by the agencies for renovation work. for socialists.
8,000 homes are under AIS management today in Brussels. More than 55,000 Brussels households are waiting for social housing.
