2023-10-10 17:05:00
“The budgetary situation needs to be adjusted to settle these files awaiting payment,” declared Federica Sasdelli, Urban.brussels spokesperson, last month. But since then, no news. What solutions are on the table? The question on everyone’s lips for weeks… was discussed during the “territorial development” committee in the Brussels Parliament this Monday.
New delays for renovation bonuses in Brussels: the coffers already empty?
Parliamentary slowness
“The renovation of housing in Brussels is not happening as it should. We are at a renovation rate of around 1%. However, to achieve carbon neutrality in 2050 as required by the Paris agreements that we is supposed to respect, we must move to 3%. We are not there at all”, deplores Christophe De Beukelaer (Les Engagés). “We think that the bonus system, as it works today, is not effective. And it’s a shame because it is almost the only action of this government to support renovation in Brussels.” The MP believes that “the new bonus system does not offer the guarantees hoped for by owners wishing to renovate their property. This poses major problems because these are owners who, in general, invest in advance and therefore count on these bonuses.”
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The bonus system, as it operates today, is not effective.
“Parliamentary slowness in resolving people’s real problems,” says MP Bruno Bauwens (PTB). Pointing out that these bonuses help at first glance “a certain class of people, abandoning certain working-class neighborhoods”, he observes that “even in this situation, there is not enough money. There is really reason to worry about the future.”
“We must communicate and reassure the people of Brussels about obtaining the bonuses. It is a colossal amount and very important for many residents,” finally asserts MP Aurélie Czekalski (MR), calling on Minister-President Rudi Vervoort (PS ). “For what reasons, within the framework of these bonuses, should the Urban.brussels funds be systematically replenished? What is being done to ensure that this does not happen again?”
Prime Renolution: “If Bruxelles Environnement is doing well, this is not the case for Urban, whose credits were used up faster than expected”
Treatment “as quickly as possible”
Through the voice of Ans Persoons (Vooruit), Secretary of State, the Minister-President explains that the reason for the delay in the payment of premiums is the lack of available credits, mainly due to the increase in construction prices and inflation linked to the price of energy. “No bonus has been refused due to budgetary insufficiency,” he says.
Rudi Vervoort also reminds that the payment of bonuses is made after the end of the work. “The problem therefore does not arise for owners who are not yet in the renovation process.”
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No bonuses have been refused due to budgetary insufficiency.
The Minister-President also assures that any premium request submitted will be processed and paid “as quickly as possible, as soon as the budgetary transfers are made. Without a budgetary transfer, the processed premiums will be paid no later than the 2024 budget.”
Dissatisfied with this response, Aurélie Czekalski deplores that “the Brussels Region may have good intentions, but its management of renovation bonuses is a fiasco. The people of Brussels are waiting, but the bonuses are not coming. This is the double punishment. To govern is to plan. But in Brussels, we don’t plan much.”
Nearly 2,000 applications for renovation grants are still expected to be submitted this year.
Real estate: success of the “Renolution” bonuses, will the significant increase in the budget be enough to meet demand?
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