Foyer anderlechtois: governance scandal and special commissioner

Final vote of 17 July 2026: 26 recommendations adopted

On Friday 17 July 2026, in the last plenary session before the summer recess, the Brussels Parliament approved the committee's 26 recommendations by 51 votes in favour (majority), 24 votes against (PTB, Ecolo, DéFI, N-VA) and 6 abstentions (TFA, Marie Cruysmans - Les Engagés, Zakia Khattabi - Ecolo, F. Maingain). The session was turbulent: around fifty amendments were tabled, each with a 5-minute defence slot.

The recommendations, drafted generically for the entire Brussels social housing sector (the name "Anderlechtse Haard" does not appear in them), notably aim to: formally ban, via a charter or internal rules, any individual intervention by a board member in an allocation file, coupled with a duty to report any attempt at influence; ban political appointees, cabinet staff and board members from accessing the Regional Database of tenant applicants; and strengthen whistleblower protection.

During the session, Louis de Clippele (MR) stressed that the vote was necessary to pass the information gathered on to the judiciary; Marie Cruysmans (Les Engagés) pointed to testimony describing governance failures concentrated at chairman level.

Sources: La Libre (17 July 2026), La DH (17 July 2026), 21News (17 July 2026). Confidence: official (parliamentary vote, result confirmed across several sources).

A special commissioner appointed to take back control (16 July 2026)

The SLRB's board of directors formally asked the Brussels government on 14 July 2026 to appoint a special commissioner to take back control of the Foyer anderlechtois. The government confirmed the appointment on Thursday 16 July 2026, as part of its summer agreement announced at Val Duchesse: lawyer Philippe Van Roost was named special commissioner for a period of 4 months.

His mandate: to convene the company's board of directors, management committee and general assembly, set their agendas, verify and validate the documents submitted, chair these meetings, and authorise the signing of legal acts in place of the chairman and vice-chairman. He will report to the SLRB and the government at the end of his mandate.

No source consulted to date specifies the exact date the commissioner takes office; only the duration (4 months) and the appointment date (16 July) are confirmed.

Sources: La Libre (16 July 2026). Confidence: official.

Opposition walks out, a rapporteur refuses to sign (14 July 2026)

On 14 July 2026, the opposition (Ecolo, DéFI, PTB) walked out of the committee session before the vote on the recommendations, arguing that the majority's text had been sent to them only one hour before the debate opened and was being imposed on them as a fait accompli. The same day, rapporteur Kalvin Soiresse (Ecolo) announced he would not sign the final report, judging that it glosses over part of the responsibilities uncovered regarding governance and the chairman's interference in allocations.

Sources: La Libre (14 July 2026), La DH/Les Sports+ (14 July 2026). Confidence: official (resignation from duty and vote confirmed); unconfirmed (motives as reported by the press).

Hearings close, government commissioner under consideration (6-8 July 2026)

143 hours of hearings, 50 witnesses. The inquiry committee closed its hearings on Monday 6 July 2026, after 143 cumulative hours of work and testimony from 50 witnesses. The Brussels minister responsible for the VGC, Cieltje Van Achter (N-VA), called the exercise a "farce". On 8 July, Ecolo group leader Zakia Khattabi denounced ongoing "sabotage": documents handed over at the last minute, a cancelled meeting of Parliament's Extended Bureau, and no clear method for incorporating the groups' proposals into the final report.

Government commissioner: the minister confirms she is studying the option. On 7 July, State Secretary for Housing Karine Lalieux (PS) confirmed she was studying "very concretely" the appointment of a government commissioner at the Foyer anderlechtois, a measure formally decided on 16 July (see above).

Sources: BRUZZ — hearings close (7 July 2026), La Libre — Khattabi denounces sabotage (8 July 2026). Confidence: official (closing of hearings, direct quote from the minister); political statements reported as such for Van Achter and Khattabi.

Two formal warnings and Article 78 under review (4 July 2026)

Before the inquiry committee, State Secretary Karine Lalieux (PS) set out on 4 July 2026 the state of the oversight procedure launched by the SLRB: a first formal warning was sent on 18 June, followed by a second on 1 July. The Brussels Housing Code allows the SLRB to take over from an SISP after two consecutive warnings, where a situation undermining its internal operation persists. In parallel, the SLRB examined activating Article 78 of the Housing Code, the mechanism that led, on 16 July, to the appointment of the special commissioner.

Sources: RTBF (4 July 2026). Confidence: unconfirmed (statement before an inquiry committee, reported identically by several independent sources).

Rapporteurs resign in succession, deadline maintained (30 June-6 July 2026)

Rapporteur resigns (30 June). The committee's rapporteur (Les Engagés) announced she was stepping down from that role, refusing to co-sign a report she judged impossible to draw up with the rigour required at the imposed pace of work: hearings of 10 to 12 hours, six days out of seven, including Saturdays.

Ousted chairman's hearing cut short (3 July). The hearing of Lotfi Mostefa, chairman of the Foyer anderlechtois removed from office since 15 June, ended in under two hours: after an initial statement, he invoked his right to remain silent, saying he trusted the judiciary given the ongoing criminal investigation.

Second rapporteur resigns (6 July). Gilles Verstraeten (N-VA) also steps down as rapporteur, denouncing a "sham committee" run under conditions of "inhuman time pressure".

Sources: La DH/Les Sports+ (30 June 2026), L'Avenir (3 July 2026), L'Avenir (6 July 2026). Confidence: official (resignations confirmed); unconfirmed (political motives alleged by the resigning rapporteurs).

Inquiry committee: an oversight chain under scrutiny (June 2026)

On 5 June 2026, the Brussels Parliament voted in plenary session to create an inquiry committee on the Foyer anderlechtois, installed on 8 June and chaired by the Speaker of Parliament himself, Bertin Mampaka (MR). It is the second regional inquiry committee since 2017. Its work covered both the company's local management and the regional oversight mandate entrusted to the SLRB.

Oversight itself under scrutiny. According to press reports, the SLRB's former chair (who resigned on 3 February 2026) had, since late 2022, been co-manager of a company that signed a commercial lease with the Foyer anderlechtois in 2023; at the time of his resignation, this company owed the organisation he was supposed to oversee around 23,900 euros in unpaid rent. Summoned by the committee, he did not appear at the 24 June hearing, citing a scheduling conflict.

Chairmanship blocked. An extraordinary board meeting on 15 June voted to temporarily remove Lotfi Mostefa as chairman, immediately contested by the company's management. The board, convened urgently on 20 June, failed to reach quorum and could not deliberate.

Sources: BX1 — former SLRB chair fails to appear (24 June 2026), La Libre — committee created (5 June 2026), La Libre — committee chairmanship (8 June 2026). Confidence: official (creation of the committee, statements made in committee); unconfirmed (press suspicions about the former SLRB chair's financial links).

SLRB audit: governance gaps already documented (April 2026)

Even before the Pano report, an SLRB audit (2024-2025) of the Foyer anderlechtois (then counting 3,800 housing units and 167 employees) had revealed major organisational shortcomings: of 261 invoices analysed, 208 had no call for tenders or purchase order, 138 had no proof of delivery; 798 tenants had arrears of more than 500 EUR at the end of 2024, with no reminder sent in 2024; there was no reporting of anomalies or risk analysis; and the roles of the board of directors and the chairmanship were blurred. The SLRB had also ruled illegal a derogation committee for social housing allocation, created without a statutory basis.

Source: BX1, La DH, L'Avenir (1 April 2026). Confidence: official (SLRB audit).

Origin: the Pano report and the opening of a judicial investigation (May 2026)

On Wednesday 20 May 2026, the VRT investigative programme Pano broadcast a report on the Foyer anderlechtois, described as managing 4,100 housing units. Based on testimony from current and former residents and employees gathered over 18 months, and on "hundreds of messages and voice messages", the report documents suspicions of favouritism and interference by the chairman, Lotfi Mostefa (PS, also alderman for Housing in Anderlecht), in social housing allocation.

Four days later, on 21 May, the Brussels public prosecutor's office opened an investigation into possible corruption, led by the federal police's central anti-corruption unit, targeting Lotfi Mostefa and the SLRB's former chair, Safouane Akremi (Vooruit). Searches took place on 28 May at the Anderlechtse Haard's headquarters and at Lotfi Mostefa's home.

Sources: VRT NWS — announcement of the report, VRT NWS — investigation opened (21 May 2026), VRT NWS — searches (28 May 2026). Confidence: official (broadcaster's announcement, confirmation by the prosecutor's office).

Issues to watch

• Judicial: the Brussels public prosecutor's investigation into possible corruption, opened in May 2026, continues alongside the political and administrative follow-up
• Governance: the special commissioner's mandate (4 months from his appointment on 16 July) is meant to restore proper functioning at the Foyer anderlechtois
• Sector-wide: the effective implementation of the 26 recommendations across all Brussels public housing companies remains to be documented
• Institutional: the real scope of the SLRB's oversight mandate over the 16 Brussels SISPs, called into question during the committee's work, is worth following

For coverage of the SLRB's financial situation and public housing output at regional level, see the SLRB dossier.