For several years now, the social housing sector has been struggling with ever-growing waiting lists. Today, with interest rates and material costs on the rise, building is becoming increasingly expensive and the middle class can no longer afford to buy, so we seem to be heading towards a widespread housing crisis. Yet there is no shortage of studies explaining precisely what affordable housing is and how to achieve it. Filip Canfyn has devoted his latest book, Woon(on)betaalbaarheid, to this topic – a common thread for Edith Wouters (Ar-tur) who, in her article Affordable housing: a mission for designers? (p.30), paints a critical picture of the complexity of the housing issue and outlines ways in which the market could be stabilised.

But doesn’t cheaper housing simply mean cheaper construction? We asked several architects how they go about reducing construction costs and compiled eleven tips for a more affordable product, ranging from a plea for “cheaper urban planning” and greater circularity to lowering comfort criteria and self-build projects. For Kelly Hendriks (B-ild), there is still room for manoeuvre by focusing on standard dimensions for building materials. ‘By applying these principles to the maximum, without exceeding the maximum dimensions, we could build much more cheaply.’ (p. 34)

‘Smoke screens!’ says Kristiaan Borret, Brussels’ chief architect. ‘The real problem is that residential property has become a financial product based on land speculation. Even when architects, developers and contractors succeed in reducing the cost of designing and building a construction, the savings made are likely to be swallowed up by the financialisation of the residential market.’ (p. 62)

The crux of the problem is not the cost of the building, but the fact that land has become an object of speculation. In Belgium, this is mainly the work of traditional real estate companies or social developers, although alternative housing models are attracting increasing interest under the influence of Swiss cooperative models and American-style Community Land Trusts. We met with six of these players to gather the approaches of architects, private and public developers, and organisations such as Wooncoop and CLT Brussels in six long interviews. Several of them support affordable housing and advocate for home ownership. Geert De Pauw of CLT Brussels: ‘Owning your home means having security of tenure, building up capital, being independent, and also having an asset to pass on to your heirs, which helps break the cycle of generational poverty.’ (p. 51)

‘Total nonsense!’ wrote Björn Mallants, managing director of the social housing company Elk Zijn Huis, in the daily newspaper De Standaard on 14 March. “In other developed regions, home ownership does not seem to be a prerequisite for the well-being of the population. ” While Matthias Diependaele, Flemish Minister for Housing (N-VA), has just allocated half a billion euros from the social housing budget to the private sector, arguing that the housing crisis does not only affect the poorest, he is calling for more social housing and a stronger rental market.

Renting or buying… the debate is far from over, but what really matters is housing security. The lack of stable housing is a poverty trap. Conversely, as Theo Vaes of the non-profit organisation ArmenTeKort argues on p. 7, housing security is an important weapon in the fight against poverty. So let’s build, build, build, and use market forces to prevent the market from derailing, by offering a supply that finally meets demand.