INTERVIEW with the Rehabilitation Unit of Brussels Housing
On 23 March 2022, the Parliament of the Brussels-Capital Region approved the reform of the public management right. Within Brussels Housing, the reform has led to the creation of a new Rehabilitation Unit, aimed at tackling the problem of unoccupied homes in the Brussels-Capital Region. Coordinator Fabien Champigny, architect Marta Viassolo and site manager Erhan Isil were there from the start.
From left to right: Marie-Pierre Deltombe, Erhan Isil, Juliette Leclercq, Isabelle Leclercq, Sophie Oblin, Calogero Spani, Marta Viassolo, Hervé Bismuth, Fabien Champigny
Can you explain what the public management right means?
Fabien: "In 2003, the public management right was introduced on homes that are unoccupied, or do not meet safety, health and equipment standards and are not undergoing the necessary renovation work."
Marta: "This legislative instrument allows a "public property operator" to manage housing in place of the defaulting landlord. This operator can carry out the necessary work and rent out the property themselves for a minimum period of nine years."
Why did the public management right need to be reformed?
Fabien: "In practice, it simply was not applied enough. This is why Brussels Housing launched an evaluation of the public management right at the end of 2019 with the stakeholders concerned. Based on this assessment, we proposed recommendations to the relevant housing consultancy founded on the main reasons why public property operators were not using the system."
Marta: "The reform aims to remove the obstacles to the application of the public management right, for example by adapting the conditions for early repossession of the home by the landlord and thus guarantee the effectiveness of the measure."
Erhan: "The clarification of the procedure and the reinforcement of the tools should make it easier for public management operators to activate the system."
Describe the role of your unit.
Erhan: "Our unit is made up of architects, lawyers, site managers and administrative staff. Our aim is to support the municipalities and PCSWs in their efforts to put vacant housing back on the market. With the creation of the unit, Brussels Housing is taking a major step forward in the fight against vacancy."
Marta: "What I personally find fascinating about working in this unit is that we can have an impact on the development of housing policy in Brussels by intervening directly through our expertise at a technical, legal and administrative level."
Fabien: "We are authorised to develop initiative actions ourselves if the local authorities do not appropriate legislative changes or request our service."
What are your plans for 2023?
Fabien: "We were fortunate that our unit was already established before the reform of the public management right was approved by Parliament. In the meantime, we have already developed various procedures and tools, and have held preliminary discussions with a number of municipalities. We can now begin the operational implementation of the projects. This will be our biggest challenge in 2023!"
Erhan: "We therefore hope that the municipalities will seek our help as much as possible, but we will also launch our own initiatives."
Marta: "We will also be expanding our legal arsenal to include cessation actions, a legal procedure that compels a landlord to end the vacancy of their property."
Fabien: "A framework agreement for the work will be awarded in 2023, in collaboration with Brussels Housing's Procurement Unit. The fact that Brussels Housing acts as a central purchasing office for all public management operators is an important support measure for local authorities, to facilitate their procedures and save time in rehabilitation projects."