by François Denuit – CPAS Councillor

The Etterbeek Social Welfare Council has adopted its 2025-2030 General Policy Declaration. The objective: improving reception and support through expanded and decentralised services, a legal helpdesk, interpreting services, strengthening the homelessness unit and creating a support branch for drug users in partnership with the municipality.

New social coordination units (homelessness, sexual and reproductive health) will be established, along with pilot projects on food security. A local social-health plan will aim to break down silos between interventions and strengthen cooperation between municipalities.

But these ambitions will collide with the federal reform proposed by the “Arizona” government (to which several parties of the local majority belong), which will limit unemployment benefits to two years as of 2026. In Etterbeek, 1,266 people could lose their rights within 18 months, many shifting to the social integration income, currently granted to 2,300 beneficiaries.

As the proposed compensations are considered insufficient, the CPAS will face an influx of applications, increased workload and additional costs for the municipality.

The next five years will be a real test: resisting the impact of an antisocial reform while rethinking social action to meet growing needs.