Antwerp - Belgium: Europe and the Arabs
Last year, 1,906 tenants were evicted in the Flanders region of northern Belgium, mainly due to rent arrears. There is a box to prevent people from being thrown into the street, but it is rarely used.
Flemish media said that for the first time, there are fixed figures on the number of evictions in Flanders. The figure has only been recorded by bailiffs since January 2022. As a result, we now know that 1,906 tenants lost their accommodation last year. These numbers were requested by Flemish Member of Parliament Maxime Vis (from the Voorout party).
This usually concerns families who can no longer pay rent. “These are renters who have to rent an expensive home on the private market,” says Weiss. He added that this did not come as a surprise. “Especially since there are around 180,000 families on the waiting list for social housing, it makes sense that some would be left in private rent.”
Evictions often lead to traumatic situations, especially for families with children. Anyone who loses their home due to rent arrears also faces difficulty finding a replacement. According to studies, it is often a direct cause of homelessness.

“Bad management”
To prevent such misery, the “Anti-Evictions Fund” was created in 2020. This receives an annual budget of around 6 million euros to conclude 6,000 guidance agreements between the OCMW “Social Help Office” and the tenant and landlord.
“Money from the fund is still available, while nearly 2,000 tenants have had to leave their homes. It is a sign of mismanagement,” said Maxime Vis, a Flemish member of parliament for the Voorout party.
Despite this budget, only 214 applications were processed last year, a small fraction of the expected number. “The fund has been running smoothly since its inception,” says Vis. “It is extremely underutilized. At the end of 2022, the outstanding balance was already more than 25 million euros. The money remained scattered, while almost 2,000 tenants had to leave their homes. It is a sign of mismanagement.”
Evictions by bailiffs are the tip of the iceberg. According to an annual survey carried out by the Association of Flemish Cities and Municipalities (VVSG), between 10 and 12 thousand families are at risk of losing their homes every year. Often the conflict ends with departure. Not everyone waits for the bailiff for this.
In response, Housing Minister Matthias Diependel (N-VA) noted that it is difficult to draw conclusions from these figures. “As we are monitoring this data for the first time through the bailiffs. Of course, each eviction is one too many, but landlords should be able to continue to take advantage of this option.
The OCMW Social Assistance Office is the most important partner in helping people in rent arrears. They receive support from the fund established in 2020. But an evaluation of the fund conducted by the Housing Assistance Office showed that only a limited number of OCMW workers are using it effectively.
“As with any new initiative, we try to make improvements over the years,” says Diependel. “We have ensured that we are no longer restricted to a minimum or maximum amount of rent arrears. Along with a number of functional adjustments, this should ensure that the fund becomes more accessible. To publicize the fund, a campaign was launched on social media and real estate websites at the beginning of the year The current one.
The interventions are starting to bear fruit. In the first nine months, €258,000 was paid out, which is €80,000 more than for the whole of 2022. The lion's share of the budget remains unused.