More than 33,000 Ghent residents spoke out in a plebiscite about the city’s housing policy. The referendum is therefore valid, but the result is not binding. According to the organizers, the fact that so many people showed up is more important than the results. ‘The citizens took the lead, it is now up to politicians.’
“I pay more than 900 euros in rent per month for my apartment, and with one wage that is far from easy,” says Ingeborg Dessein (41), who steps outside the gym in the Brugse Poort, which has been converted into a polling station. Dessein has been living in her apartment in the Ghent district for five years and has seen the rent rise every year. “In the meantime, life is also becoming more expensive, and I gradually no longer know where to get the money,” says Dessein, who has been on the waiting list for social housing for sixteen years. “Every time I call, they tell me to be patient. There is an urgent need for more social housing.”
Dessein is one of the 33,203 Ghent residents who voted in the referendum on affordable housing. The Too Duur Action Group collected more than 35,000 signatures, enough to oblige the city council to organize a referendum.
In no other central city have real estate prices risen so much since 2010. There are 11,000 households on the waiting list for social housing, and there is a shortage of affordable housing on the rental market.
Rudy Lomme (66) also went to the polling station. He lives in his own house, but is still worried. “I see in my environment that housing is becoming unaffordable for ordinary people,” says Lomme. “My daughter recently divorced and is now looking for a home for her and her three children. At the OCMW she is told that she can only pay 600 euros in rent with her wages. That won’t get you anywhere.”
For the referendum to be valid, at least 26,767 voters had to show up, ten percent of those eligible to vote. “The fact that so many people came out on a Sunday for this is an unexpected success,” says Frank Van de Pitte of Saamo, an organization that focuses on social development work in vulnerable neighborhoods, and had called for people to vote. “It was exciting, because only in the last few days did you notice that the issue really started to come to life.”
Missed opportunity
All Ghent residents aged 16 or older were asked two questions. ‘Municipal public real estate should not be privatized. Do you agree?’ and ‘Should the City of Ghent establish a bank of public lands to achieve 40 percent social housing?’.
There was little discussion in advance about the land bank and the target of 40 percent social housing. Almost all parties – with the exception of NV-A – are committed to the idea that the city should make maximum use of public land to realize affordable housing, both social housing and budget rental properties, which are rented out below market prices. 77.4 percent of voters answered that question positively.
The question of whether the city is not allowed to sell public real estate to private players is more controversial. The city council previously stated that it did not think this was a good idea. 79.4 percent of voters were in favor of such a ban.
Previously, resentment arose because social housing company Volkshaard sold 72 apartments to a project developer, who offered them again after renovation for three times the price. The sale of agricultural land by the Ghent OCMW to entrepreneur Fernand Huts, below market price, also caused bad blood.
The City of Ghent, OCMW Ghent and urban development company Sogent together own 27 square kilometers of land, of which 11 square kilometers are within Ghent. But only two percent of that is intended for residential use. Alderman for Housing Tine Heyse (Green) therefore does not think it is a good idea to completely ban sales to private players. “We recently sold an SME zone in De Pinte,” says Heyse. “Those lands were useless for housing policy, but we can do useful things with the income.”
The referendum is not binding. “Yet such a referendum is useful because it can mobilize people around a specific issue and forces politicians to take clear positions,” says professor of public administration Bram Verschuere (UGent). “In that sense, the fact that Ghent politicians have responded tepidly to this initiative is somewhat of a missed opportunity.”
‘Important signal’
Mayor Mathias De Clercq (Open Vld) says that the voters have given ‘an important signal’ that the city council is taking to heart. “This city council has never focused so much on the theme of housing, and that will remain a priority in the future,” says De Clercq.
The last successful referendum in Arteveldestad dates back to 1997, when a majority spoke out against a parking lot under the Belfry. A referendum in 1999 on free public transport failed due to low turnout.
According to Raf Verbeke of the action group Te Duur, the fact that enough people showed up this time is more important than exactly what was voted on. “The fact that so many people have been able to speak out about such a fundamental theme is a strengthening for democracy,” says Verbeke. “Affordable housing is now high on the political agenda, and this will certainly remain the case with the elections approaching. The citizens have made the opening move, now it is up to politicians.”
