Étangs Noirs

Country: Belgium

City: Brussels

District: Étangs Noirs

Description of the project:

Community Land Trust Brussels (CLTB) developed six housing projects for low-income families in different neighborhoods in the Brussels Capital Region. Three of these projects (63 homes in total) are within walking distance of each other and are located in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the Brussels region, Old Molenbeek. All three of them are very recent, passive or very low-energy buildings. In the same neighborhood, in collaboration with the municipality and the Region’s environmental administration, a pilot project was launched to test the use of the CLT model in the renovation of existing owner-occupied houses in very poor condition whose owners do not have the means to renovate them and bring them in line with new energy standards. The idea is to study whether public funds, supplemented by innovative investment formulas, could be used to purchase the land under their homes and invest this money in the renovation of the home. In this way, resources are made available to refurbish the most problematic part of the housing stock in a qualitative and energy-efficient way. At the same time, through this intervention, social housing will be created and a dam will be erected against the gentrification that may result from the renovation obligations that will arrive in the coming years. The intent of this pilot project is to renovate and socialize five to ten homes. If successful, this could be scaled up to a new financing tool for renovation at the Brussels Region level.
There is also the intention of combining this approach with the production of energy, including installing solar panels on the renovated houses and on the existing housing projects. To this end, CLTB will work with Brupower, a new energy cooperative, with the intention of creating an energy community. This might also be an additional incentive for homeowners to step into the program.