This document summarizes a presentation about Social Rental Agencies (SRAs) in Belgium. SRAs are non-profit organizations that work with private landlords to secure affordable housing for vulnerable people. They rent apartments from private owners and then sublet them at lower rents to those in need, while also providing tenants with counseling services. The goals of SRAs are to increase affordable housing options and improve housing quality. Over time, SRAs have grown in Belgium and now manage thousands of units, helping many formerly homeless individuals. However, high demand still outpaces supply as waitlists remain long.

1. A Social Innovative Initiative to Invade the
Private Rental Market:
The Case of Social Rental Agencies in Belgium
Pascal De Decker
Sint-Lucas Architecture Ghent/Brussels
European Research Conference Access to Housing for Homeless People in Europe
York, 21st September 2012
European Research Conference
Access to Housing for Homeless People in Europe
York, 21st September 2012

2. Content
 SRA: what?
 Goals
 Regulation
 History, context, roots
 State of affairs
 Allocation of dwelling
 Recognition/basis
European Research Conference
Access to Housing for Homeless People in Europe
York, 21st September 2012

3. What?
 SRA’s are
 non-profit organisations
 dealing with housing problems of poor & vulnerable people
 rooted in services dealing with the homeless persons
 Rent from private landlords and sublet to tenants
 securing the payment of the rent (event in periods of vacancy)
 securing housing quality
 affordable rent to the subtenant
 organising support if necessary
 ‘try to socialize’ the private rented sector – withdraw renting
from free market mechanisms
European Research Conference
Access to Housing for Homeless People in Europe
York, 21st September 2012

4. Fig.2: Overview of the partnership between an SRA and Landlord:
Landlord
Requests: Accepts
Prompt payment of the rent Below market/”social”rent
Maintenance of the house Quality standards
Rational occupation Rental contract for a period of 9 years
Judicial support No say in the profile of the subtenant
Administrative support
SRA
Offers: Requests:
Guaranteed monthly payment of the rent Affordable housing
Rental mediation High-quality houses
Handyman‟s service Housing certainty
Legal occupation standard To be open to all candidate-tenants
Professional counselling
Source: Adapted from OCMW Gent Presentation, 2012 HABITACT Peer Review
European Research Conference
Access to Housing for Homeless People in Europe
York, 21st September 2012

5. Fig 3. Overview of the relationship an SRA and its tenants
SRA Tenant
Requests: Agrees to provide
Appropriate accommodation Participation in rental counselling
Affordable rent Maintenance of the house/being a good tenant
Security of tenure Prompt payment
Support Open communication
SRA
Offers: Agrees to provide:
High-quality housing Professional rental counselor
„‟Social‟‟/affordable rent Support: “chore” team, link to welfare services
Rental subsidy Follow-up of the rent
9-year rental agreement Mediation in case of arrears
Rental counselling General assistance with enquiries etc
Source: Adapted from OCMW Gent Presentation, 2012 HABITACT Peer Review
European Research Conference
Access to Housing for Homeless People in Europe
York, 21st September 2012

6. Goals
 Enlarge the number of available dwellings
for vulnerable people
 Improve the quality of the accommodation
at the bottom end of the housing market
 Use a socially correct rent
European Research Conference
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7. Regulation
 Belgium=federal state, with ‘split responsibilties’
 Changes underway (all housing responsibilities will be
transfered)
 Private renting=federal matter
 new rents are free
 length of the lease is regulated
 some subsidies (tax exempations)
 SRA’s=matter of the regions (Flanders, Brussels,
Wallonia)
 subsidies for staff & working
 rent allowance (under certain conditins)
 renovation subsidies
European Research Conference
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8. History – context - roots
 Housing activism (1970s)
 General: legal advise shops  tenant’s association (UK model)
 Labour migrant discrimination  SRA avant la lettre Woonfonds Gent (idem in
Antwerp & Brussels)
 Housing ‘crisis’
 Economic crisis  drop new house construction (private & social)
 Squeezed market
 Freeing of private renting in times of crisis
 New housing times (demographics)  more houses needed
 Filtering up  filtering down: renting becomes more & more unaffordable (queeing for
advertisers)
 Cfr def social innovation: compensate for the market, which cannot address social
needs
 De-institutionalisation
 Welfare Work: experience increasing housing problems of its clients
 De-institutionalisation (elimination of the ‘total institutions’/ideology of the small scale)
 need ‘housing’ for the services itself
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9. Homeless service sector in general
 Growth after 1975
 Due to the de-institutionalisation ideology
 Professionalisation
 passing through philosophy – client has to become
independent as soon as possible  theory vs
reality: lots of failures
 small scale ideology  need for ordinary houses
 Idea of emancipation
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10. Consequence
 Welfare work ‘invades’ the housing market
 SRA’s
 Tenant’s associations
Cfr: social innovation is a bottom-up proces
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11. Devepment of the SRA model
 Social innovations create new structures &
methods
 1985: the umbrella organisations of homeless
organisations (VDVO) presents the SRA model
 1993: foundation of the umbrella organisation of ‘new
housing initiatives’ (VOB)
 1993: 9 SRAs & VOB get subsidies as ‘experiments’
 VOB has to develop a workable model
 1997: integration of ‘rent services’ in the Flemish
housing law = SRAs become a housing institution
 Since then: different regulations aiming at making
SRA’s stronger/bigger
 2007: assessment through the eyes of the landlords
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12. State of affairs (Flanders)
Number of recognised SRAs
2003 2006 2009
subsidized 24 32 44
Not subsidized 10 14 7
total 34 46 51
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13. State of affairs
Number of dwellings
Average number of dwellings per SRA rose from 54.8 in 1999, over 77 in 2006 to 96.3
in 2009 – largest: +500 dwellings
2004 2006 2009
subsidized 2,385 2,905 4,600
Not subsidized 407 638 313
total 2,792 3,543 4,913
European Research Conference
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14. State of affairs
Number of applications
New Total number of Candidates/
applications candidates dwelling
2006 6,739 11,100 3.1
2007 7,608 12,795 3.3
2008 7,164 13,718 3.1
2009 9,425 13,332 2.7
End 2011
-23,635 households on waiting list
-5,750 dwellings
New applications in 2011: 10,910
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15. State of affairs
 Work situation new tenants, 2009, %
 unemployed 17.6
 subsistence income 34.3
 part-time job 0.7
 disability/illness 10
 work 19.4
 pension 3.2
 other 5
 no info 9.3
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16. State of affairs
 33% were homeless at the moment of
allocation
 Homeless= living in a caravan, uninhabitable
dwelling, living on the street, living in a service
for homeless persons
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17. Allocation
 Allocation
 Flemish regulation for all social rental dwellings, but
differentiated, so SRAs can and do use a point system in
order to fit with housing need (e.g. living on the
street=higher score than someone living in an institution)
 local municipalities can develop a local allocation system
that refines the Flemish one, but they hardly do (avoid the
risk)
 there was the possibility to work besides this regulation in
order to house very difficult ‘housable’ persons in a co-
operation with welfare work
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18. Recognition/basis
 Recognition
 political support in policy notes of political
parties & policy notes of ministers and
aldermen
 support from the representatives of landlords
 high satisfaction on landlords working with
SRAs
 But: difficult to enter the ‘crowded’ housing
field
European Research Conference
Access to Housing for Homeless People in Europe
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19. Further reading
 De Decker, P. (2002): On the rise of social rental
agencies in Belgium, in: Urban Studies, vol. 39, nr. 2, p.
297-326.
 De Decker, P. (2009): Social rental agencies : still a
splendid idea?, in: European Journal of
Homelessness, vol 3, December, p. 217-232.
 Feantsa Office (2012): Social rental agencies: an
innovative housing-led response to homelessness,
Feantsa, Brussels.
European Research Conference
Access to Housing for Homeless People in Europe
York, 21st September 2012