At the Etterbeek Public Social Welfare Centre (CPAS/OCMW), the first consequences of unemployment benefit exclusions are already being felt.

While this reform already penalizes cohabiting individuals (the majority of whom are women), as if that were not enough, Federal Minister Van Bossuyt (N-VA) now wants to further tighten the conditions for accessing the Social Integration Income.

This income already stands below the poverty threshold.

Her proposal would now require CPAS/OCMW offices to take into account the income of all adults living under the same roof: parents, adult children, grandparents, step-parents or grandchildren. In practical terms, this means that people could lose all or part of their support simply because they live with relatives who have an income — even a modest one.

This reform is part of a series of measures that gradually weaken social security and social assistance. With each new reform from the Arizona government — in which MR and Les Engagés also participate — it is always the same people who end up paying the price: the most vulnerable, people living alone, young people, women and single-parent families.

Once again, it will be CPAS/OCMW services and social workers who will have to mitigate the damage caused by a policy that wages war on the poor rather than on poverty.

by François Denuit and Violaine Wathelet, CPAS Councillors