A local council with social overtones on Monday!

We would like to come back to two points on which the Council voted in favor.

First, we approved the budget of the CPAS. Since the beginning of the legislature, Ecolo-Groen has been asking for more human and financial resources for social action on our territory. The budget has risen from just over 12 million € to almost 16 million in three years! The total budget of the CPAS is

58.5 million euros. It should be noted that in recent years, the number of beneficiaries has increased significantly. In particular, workers with a low salary who turn to the CPAS for additional income.

The vote on the budget of the CPAS was also the opportunity to confirm several projects:

• The "energy boost" bonus will be renewed.
• The new day-care center for the elderly will open on June 1, 2023.
• The social antenna in the Theux-Jourdan district will be completed in 2023.
• Specific support for single-parent families will be provided in the framework of the federal MIRIAM subsidy.
• The "Pass'Âge" project is taking shape and will create two autonomy houses to accommodate a dozen young adults who are losing their housing and are in the process of gaining their autonomy. The first house was inaugurated at the beginning of 2023 and the second will be inaugurated in 2024.

The second topic is social cohesion in our municipality. A consultation brings together all the social cohesion actors present in Etterbeek.

It aims to enable the development of collaborations between social cohesion actors.

The priorities have been set for the coming years:

(1) Schooling and citizenship support for children and young people

(2) French learning and literacy support

But also the creation of social links between different generations, the fight against the digital divide and the improvement of neighborhood life through the use of public space. Remember, in a previous report of the town council, we mentioned a diagnosis of social cohesion and, in particular, insufficient school support and French language learning. These two areas will be

reinforced. Based on a proposal by the Ecolo-Groen alderman Karim Sheikh Hassan, the council validated the collaboration with the Brussels region: in total, +/- €200,000 will be invested in this social cohesion plan.

The ecological transition must be accompanied by a real social policy, we are working on it every day! #greener #fairer

The next local council meeting will take place on 22 May at 8pm.