Social housing: Flanders eases the catch-up effort for thirty-nine municipalities

The Flemish Minister for Housing, Energy and Climate, Tourism and Youth signed, on September 17, 2026, thirty-nine ministerial decrees reducing — totally or partially — the specific catch-up effort imposed on as many municipalities regarding social housing. These decisions were published in the Belgian Official Gazette of October 8, 2026, under reference C − 2026/007027, on pages 53543 to 53548. They ease the quantified obligations of municipalities located mainly in Flemish Brabant and the Brussels periphery.

Each Flemish municipality is required to comply with a Bindend Sociaal Objectief (binding social objective), expressed as the number of social housing units to be delivered. This objective is divided into two parts: a regular effort and a specific catch-up effort, the latter targeting municipalities with a historical construction backlog. The decrees of September 17, 2026, concern only this second component.

The thirty-nine decisions enter into force on the date of their signature, September 17, 2026, and cover a total of 1,975 housing units. They are divided into three categories: total removal of the catch-up effort, partial reduction, and refusal of any reduction.

Ten municipalities obtain a total removal

For these municipalities, the binding social objective now relies solely on the regular effort:

• Drogenbos: 12 units (objective reduced to 104)
• Grimbergen: 266 units (objective of 356)
• Linkebeek: 19 units (objective of 33)
• Maarkedal: 49 units (objective of 24)
• Overijse: 159 units (objective of 129)
• Sint-Laureins: 34 units (objective of 44)
• Sint-Pieters-Leeuw: 132 units (objective of 372)
• Voeren: 15 units (objective of 30)
• Wemmel: 118 units (objective of 186)
• Zaventem: 72 units (objective of 319)

Twenty-one partial reductions

The following municipalities retain a portion of the catch-up effort, but it has been reduced:

• Asse: 48 dwellings (target of 312, including 16 as catch-up)
• Bever: 6 dwellings (target of 18, including 9 as catch-up)
• Dilbeek: 71 dwellings (target of 407, including 24 as catch-up)
• Halle: 68 dwellings (target of 496, including 22 as catch-up)
• Koksijde: 63 dwellings (target of 264, including 21 as catch-up)
• Kraainem: 69 dwellings (target of 91, including 23 as catch-up)
• Lennik: 18 dwellings (target of 99, including 52 as catch-up)
• Londerzeel: 74 dwellings (target of 144, including 19 as catch-up)
• Machelen: 50 dwellings (target of 142, including 17 as catch-up)
• Meise: 77 dwellings (target of 181, including 26 as catch-up)
• Merchtem: 83 dwellings (target of 170, including 28 as catch-up)
• Nijlen: 14 dwellings (target of 161, including 42 as catch-up)
• Opwijk: 49 dwellings (target of 105, including 16 as catch-up)
• Oud-Heverlee: 58 dwellings (target of 57, including 15 as catch-up)
• Pajottegem: 57 dwellings (target of 165, including 56 as catch-up)
• Ravels: 32 dwellings (target of 145, including 22 as catch-up)
• Rumst: 38 dwellings (target of 127, including 37 as catch-up)
• Schilde: 53 dwellings (target of 150, including 53 as catch-up)
• Sint-Genesius-Rode: 114 dwellings (target of 105, including 6 as catch-up)
• Sint-Katelijne-Waver: 46 dwellings (target of 160, including 33 as catch-up)
• Zandhoven: 11 dwellings (target of 113, including 34 as catch-up)

Eight municipalities with no reduction

Eight decrees explicitly reject any reduction in the catch-up effort: Aalter, Beveren-Kruibeke-Zwijndrecht, Bonheiden, Edegem, Lievegem, Maldegem, Stekene, and Westerlo. These municipalities therefore remain subject to the entirety of their quantified obligations.

Impact for tenants and prospective tenants

These decrees neither create nor remove social housing: they modify the distribution of effort between municipalities and lighten the catch-up burden for those that were furthest behind. For tenants and prospective tenants, the effect is indirect but real: the concerned municipalities have broader planning margins, while the eight municipalities excluded from the mechanism remain required to produce all planned housing. As the decisions entered into force upon signature, they apply immediately to current local programming.

Source: Belgian Official Gazette, October 8, 2026, C − 2026/007027, p. 53543-53548.