SLRB: 1,000+ public housing units and financial consolidation

PSRD 2026-2035: EUR 61 million unlocked for renovation (10-11 July 2026)

On 10 and 11 July 2026, State Secretary for Housing Karine Lalieux (PS) announced that the Brussels government had unlocked several housing-policy funding envelopes, including EUR 61 million for the SLRB under the Strategic Sustainable Renovation Plan (PSRD) 2026-2035. For this PSRD period, 219 projects are planned and 117 are already under construction.

This funding concerns the SLRB as the regional institution responsible for renovating the social housing stock.

Source(s): La DH (11 July 2026); BX1 (11 July 2026). Confidence: official (direct ministerial announcement).

Government agreement: what changes

The agreement of 12 February 2026 provides for two structural measures for the SLRB:

• 1,000+ public housing units during the legislature, with a budget of 400 million EUR
• Financial consolidation of the SLRB, whose budgetary situation required a recovery plan

The end of the caretaker period unblocks the multi-year renovation plan and construction projects that had been frozen since June 2024.

Asset sales to settle debt

To clean up the SLRB's finances, the government has decided to sell several assets:

• "Ariane" site in Woluwe-Saint-Lambert — land to be sold
• "Palais" site in Schaerbeek — land to be sold
• ~200 social housing units to be put up for sale

These disposals aim to reduce the SLRB's debt to the Region. The 400M EUR credit line over 3.5 years is maintained to avoid cash flow difficulties, and a deconsolidation fund will be created to remove the SLRB's debt from the regional budget.

Reform calendar

The government has announced a timeline for social housing reform:

• 15 March 2026: reform principles
• 31 May 2026: complete reform
• 1 January 2027: entry into force

The SLRB's debt stands at EUR 197 million. The sales of the Ariane (~EUR 30M) and Palais (~EUR 22-23M) sites should yield EUR 52-53M, out of a total of EUR 73M in assets to be disposed of in 2026.

Source: housing-sector card / DPR, 2026.

Inherited context

The SLRB coordinates social housing policy in the Brussels Region. It oversees 16 Sociétés Immobilières de Service Public (SISP) that directly manage the housing stock. With over 62,000 households on the waiting list, social housing in Brussels is under structural pressure.

The existing stock requires major renovation work — thermal insulation, compliance upgrades, and heavy renovation of dilapidated buildings. These investments require multi-year budget commitments that were impossible under caretaker government.

What was blocked (June 2024 — February 2026)

• The adoption of a new multi-year renovation plan
• Funding for new construction projects
• Arbitrations between renovating the existing stock and building new housing
• Implementation of an updated allocation policy

The SISPs continued to handle day-to-day management (maintenance, allocation according to existing lists), but all structural investment was frozen.

SLRB social plan (30 April 2026)

On 30 April 2026, SLRB management announced a social plan internally. Nine layoffs are planned — three statutory and six contractual — together with economic unemployment for six additional contractual employees, "without any guarantee of job retention" according to the unions.

The information was made public the same day by the unions — CGSP and CSC services publics on the French-speaking side, ACOD and ACV on the Dutch-speaking side — who denounce a decision taken "without consultation and without prospect". The SLRB official press release of 30 April, in response to these statements, indicates that the staff concerned will be informed "as a priority in an appropriate setting during the week of 4 May" and regrets that "information exchanged confidentially with the trade unions" has been made public.

Justifications put forward

These two versions coexist in official communication. The staff briefing, scheduled for the week of 4 May 2026, should clarify the rationale retained.

Tension with the Regional Policy Declaration

The Regional Policy Declaration (DPR) 2026-2029 provides for a moratorium on regional civil-service employment without compulsory layoffs. The social plan announced on 30 April thus opens a factual gap between the DPR commitment and its execution within a key regional housing institution, in the middle of the post-formation legislature. To be tracked through parliamentary questions in the Housing Committee (week of 4-8 May 2026) and post-briefing communication of 4 May.

Sources: BRUZZ (30 April 2026); DH / Belga (30 April 2026); SLRB — Press release, 30 April 2026. Confidence: official (rank-1 SLRB press release, figures confirmed by cabinet).

Gandhi 2 tower (Molenbeek): 57 social housing units at risk of prolonged vacancy

The SISP Le Logement Molenbeekois (Molenbeekse Woningen) is rehousing the tenants of the two Gandhi 2 and Gandhi 4 towers, located on avenue Mahatma Gandhi in Molenbeek-Saint-Jean (Ossegem site). The project is led in partnership with the SLRB and the Bouwmeester Maître Architecte (BMA Brussels); the architecture competition was closed on 14 December 2023 with a budget of €25,709,215.86 excl. VAT for both towers.

According to figures reported in the press (BRUZZ 29/04 and DH 26/04):

The SLRB multi-year budget covers the renovation of Gandhi 4 but not that of Gandhi 2. Without additional financing, the renovation of Gandhi 2 would be postponed to the next decennial plan of the SLRB. The SLRB recalls that "authorising studies does not imply a financing promise".

Molenbeek social housing context

The Molenbeek context is strained: about 1,100 social housing units require renovation, for an estimated need of €200 million over ten years, while the regional multi-year envelope barely exceeds €70 million.

Sources: BRUZZ (29 April 2026); DH (26 April 2026); BMA Brussels — Gandhi towers 2 and 4. Confidence: estimated (budget figures from the press, BMA rank-1 for the original competition — SLRB multi-year budget not attached).

Foyer Anderlechtois audit: governance failures (April 2026)

An audit by the SLRB (2024-2025) of the Foyer Anderlechtois (then estimated at 3,800 units, 167 employees) revealed major organisational shortcomings: of 261 invoices analysed, 208 without tender or purchase order, 138 without proof of delivery; 798 tenants with arrears above EUR 500 at end-2024, no reminders sent in 2024; no anomaly reporting or risk analyses; confusion between board and chairperson roles. The SLRB also deemed illegal the derogation committee for social housing allocation, created without a statutory basis.

This audit is the starting point of the governance crisis that, following the VRT Pano report (20 May 2026) and a parliamentary inquiry committee, led to the vote on 26 sectoral recommendations and the appointment of a special commissioner in July 2026, covered in detail in the dedicated dossier Foyer anderlechtois.

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

AISSJ scandal in Saint-Josse: the SLRB's supervisory mission questioned (10 June 2026)

BRUZZ's revelations of 9 June 2026 about the AISSJ — the social rental agency of Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, bankrupt since October 2025, where a regional audit reportedly found irregularities in 86% of the allocation files examined — spill over into the parliamentary debate opened by the Foyer anderlechtois dossier.

Institutional clarification: an AIS (social rental agency, an intermediary with private landlords, supervised by the Brussels Housing administration) is not a SISP (public service housing company, coordinated by the SLRB). But the MR group leader in the Brussels Parliament broadens the question of oversight: she recalls that the Brussels Housing Code has, since 2020, entrusted the SLRB with an explicit mission to coordinate and supervise all public service housing companies — mechanisms that have, in her view, 'never been activated, for lack of political will'. The MR asks for the 'Foyer anderlechtois' parliamentary inquiry committee to be extended to the Saint-Josse case; Team Fouad Ahidar calls for an inquiry committee into the entire social housing sector; Ecolo argues for handling the cases separately.

For the SLRB, the stakes are twofold: the effective scope of its supervisory mission over the SISPs, and the perimeter of the future inquiry committee, which could examine the whole supervision chain of Brussels social housing.

Sources: BRUZZ (10 June 2026). Confidence: unconfirmed (political statements, audit not public).

Issues to monitor

• Social: housing is the largest expenditure item for low-income Brussels households; the 1,000+ announced units will only cover a fraction of the 62,000 households on the waiting list
• Energy: a large proportion of the housing stock is energy-inefficient; zero-interest loans (200M EUR, replacing Renolution) could accelerate renovation
• Urban planning: several new housing projects are ready on paper and can now be launched
• Budgetary: the fiscal consolidation effort to return to balance by 2029 will determine the effective pace of investment
• SISP governance: monitoring of the Foyer anderlechtois crisis and its sector-wide consequences continues in the dedicated dossier Foyer anderlechtois

New chair of the SLRB (23 July 2026)

On 23 July 2026, the Brussels government designated a former liberal minister to chair the Brussels Regional Housing Company (SLRB / BGHM).

The appointment is part of the general unblocking of the round of appointments to regional bodies, decided at a ministerial council held remotely the same day. Fourteen chairs of bodies were allocated then; around 150 mandates remain to be filled, and the government's office confirmed the list was not final. The detail appears on the institutional domain card.

Context matters

The appointment comes one week after the plenary vote in the Brussels Parliament, on 17 July 2026, on the twenty-six recommendations of the inquiry commission into the Foyer anderlechtois. Those recommendations dealt with the governance and oversight of the entire Brussels social housing sector — the sector for which the SLRB is precisely the umbrella body, responsible for supervising and financing the public service housing companies.

Implementing those recommendations is therefore a direct challenge for the new chair. BGM will follow this connection without prejudging its outcome: no statement of intent from the designated chair on this point was available at the date of this update.

Status of the information

No appointment decree has been published at this stage. The information comes from the press, citing a reference daily and a confirmation by a party spokesperson.

Source: BRUZZ Politiek (23 July 2026). Confidence: unconfirmed (appointment reported by the press; no published decree, list of appointments explicitly not final).