At its meeting on May 24, the Social Action Council voted on the budget of the Etterbeek CPAS, which was approved the same day by the Municipal Council.

In view of the current situation, it was foreseeable that the expenditure planned for the CPAS would increase significantly in order to deal with:

• the indexation and valorisation of the salaries of the CPAS staff;
• the indexation of the amounts of social aid granted by the Centre;
• the energy crisis and the related increase in the cost of living.

The CPAS has to deal with new needs and/or new publics such as:

• the self-employed in bankruptcy;
• growing student insecurity;
• deterioration of the situation of single-parent families;
• participation of our municipality in the reception of the Ukrainian population fleeing the war;
• the deterioration of the mental health of some young people.

As a result, the municipality's budget for the CPAS has risen from 12.7 million 16 million this year and the Centre has been forced to use a significant part of its reserve funds to keep the budget in balance.

Given the current context, the room for manoeuvre to launch ambitious projects has unfortunately remained limited. Nevertheless, the maintenance and existence of federal and regional subsidies will enable the CPAS to continue to meet its obligations.

For this year, therefore, most of the projects are a continuation of those of previous years. However, various initiatives will be launched.

Here are some examples:

• Inauguration at the beginning of 2023 of a house of autonomy located in rue Demot and another planned for the year 2024 in rue de Theux;
• The continuation of the "energy boost" bonus for households benefiting from the increased intervention (BIM status) and whose resources do not exceed the social integration income increased by 25%;
• The creation of 5 to 7 transit housing units located in rue de la Confiance (renovation work to begin at the end of 2023, partly financed by a regional subsidy of 200,000 euros);
• The preservation of the Housing First project aimed primarily at rehousing homeless people and offer them social support;
• The creation of a day centre for the elderly whose objective is to be an alternative to nursing home placement and to keep them at home for as long as possible;
• The development of a social and health guide for the municipality's senior citizens in collaboration with the municipal service Contact plus;
• The implementation of a food aid coordination policy via 3 complementary projects entrusted or managed by the CPAS (Espace Libellule (social grocery shop), opening of a social restaurant;
• The appointment of a person responsible for the well-being of residents and the quality of care in the nursing homes.

In addition, the action of the ECOLO CPAS representatives will mainly focus on the following principles:

• Individualisation and automation of social rights;
• Focusing as much as possible on the autonomy and fulfillement of people;
• Enabling everyone to be an actor in finding solutions to the problems they encounter and enabling them to live in dignity;
• Concentrating aid on those who need it most;
• Ensuring that the support offered by public services is accessible to all those who need it most;
• Fighting against all forms of discrimination and precariousness.