PARTICIPATION-01, -02 and BUSINESS-03: Affordable housing & residential building renovation

The Societal Housing Network is a Brussels-based platform bringing together private, public, and non-profit actors committed to the production and management of housing with a social purpose.

SoHoNet aims to promote, stimulate, and support the design, financing, creation, and renovation of decent housing acessible for vulnerable groups in Brussels.

Our organisation has been working on the 'Social Reno Deal' since 2023. This approach aims to make the renovation of residential buildings a lever to increase the supply of affordable rental housing in Brussels.

This mechanism:

• promotes the optimisation of regional public spending to mobilise private investment in residential building renovation;

• encourages landlord-owners to renovate their housing in order to improve comfort and energy performance;

• makes the granting of favourable renovation subsidies conditional upon the property being rented out at an affordable rate via social rental agencies or through a convention mechanism;

• considers other action levers related to easing urban planning rules and permits, third-party investor financing models, or even a change to the Energy Performance (PEB) methodology to embed real emissions.