Many families have been waiting for rent allowance for months: “Problems keep dragging on” | Brussels
Many Brussels residents live in poverty and find it difficult to pay their rent every month due to energy prices. “For these families, a rental allowance, it concerns about a hundred euros per month, is very important,” says Vanden Borre. The problems with the payment of rent allowances have dragged on for months, and it soon became clear that little would change this summer. State Secretary for Housing Nawal Ben Hamou (PS) promised to pay all allowances before September. It now appears that this did not happen, and that the proposed budgets were not in line with the actual number of families that actually applied for the allowance.
“I already predicted in July that it would not be possible to effectively pay all the rent allowances this summer and now this is also being confirmed. I have therefore asked the Committee to urgently request the Housing Committee to ensure that the State Secretary conducts both the internal audit and the status of the payments. If it turns out that the aforementioned are factually truthful, we must take new steps with the Housing Committee,” concludes Vanden Borre.