Living in Belgium is advantageous as civilians receive support social income when they resign from their jobs and refugees also receive social income when they ask for asylum. Citizens also get social houses which are government houses. How do people get them? What are the merits and demerits of these houses? Let me tell you all.
Social Houses in Belgium
Making one’s own house is the stiffest thing in Belgium because the average salary is about 3 to 4 thousand Euros. Still, most civilians earn 2 thousand Euros sufficient for necessities and yearly travel. On the other hand, buying a house needs 300 to 500 thousand Euros or more which is almost unattainable for a single earner with a small or big family. That is why most people live in rented houses which are small and uncomfortable and the rent of private living is very high. And here people are unable to save extra funds. For this reason, most civilians seek social housing where the house rent is less than half that of private living. Government apartments are also big and comfortable.
The question arises here, the social houses are lower in rent but bigger in area than other private living so why don’t all citizens get these houses to save money and live comfortably? The answer is, that the government planned these houses for civilians’ comfort and with an agency to authorize citizens to live in these houses but these houses are fewer. This is the reason, why only some civilians are living in government apartments.
How do we acquire social housing?
Many people desire a government house by which they can save money. Initially, they should fill out and submit the form for social housing to the agency after accepting their rules and conditions. The rules and conditions are clear when they ask about family composition, if any citizen has their own house they are not eligible for a government apartment, and the income of all family members. That is how the agency works. Next, civilians should wait until they receive a letter from the agency.
Why are people on the waiting list?
When we applied for social housing the team mentioned that
“Too many families have been waiting for several years you are also on the waiting list now and don’t know how long you have to wait”.
This is because when citizen acquires a government house they don’t want to leave that as they pay very little rent. They are economizing for their ease. That is unpleasant for other deserving people as several civilians have been waiting for a long time, some for ten years and some families for 5 or fewer years. The reason is that some need 5-room apartments which are very few and some families need 3 or 4 rooms which are more than a few whereas the agency has a lot of one or two-bedroom apartments. So that community doesn’t have many livings according to family composition and demands. But they have many civilians on the waiting list so people have been waiting for a long time but still, didn’t get the required apartment.
Another reason for the waiting list
The community work is at fault. In some cases, some people who have been living for a long time with their kids who grew up in the same apartment even kids got married and shifted to another apartment only the father/ guardian survived all alone in 3 rooms or a big apartment which is very big for single senior citizen. This is why, the organization is fault unknown for the family composition and not offering a room apartment to a single person.
Another case of family composition that is also misapprehended by the social housing community is some newly wedded couples increase their family by the birth of newborns still, the agency doesn’t ask them to shift to a big social apartment. Due to these two reasons social houses don’t come vacant and the people are still, on the waiting list.
The clever citizens
Normally, the agency increases the rent by 50€ yearly for every house or apartment making civilians a little stressed as they don’t want to pay too much rent. On the other hand, senior citizens have the right to pay low rent when some people reach the age of 67 or 70 they acquire benefits. This is why many civilians have lived in social houses for years as their kids have grown up. Because still, they are not leaving the social house which is why many people are waiting for these houses.
How should the community know about family composition?
It’s easy for any agency to know about the family composition of every social housing. The survey is the most appropriate task to clarify the family composition of every family. This survey can be done after every 3 or 5 years and in this way, they can shift small families into small houses and big families into big ones. After this, they can offer other waiting civilians any relative apartment, and by this, everyone can get benefits while living in a government house because some people have been getting benefits for a long time whereas others have not.
