Flanders will investigate the possibilities cooperative living

Flanders wants to investigate how cooperative living can be better supported. To this end, it will set up five pilot projects in five cities. The Flemish Government wants to examine whether, for example, adjustments to the regulations are needed to make such projects more successful or more attractive. The projects will not receive financial support, but will be guided to a successful outcome.

Cooperative living is one of the less classical forms of housing that Flanders wants to explore in the future, without actually promoting it as the one formula to choose. How exactly the concept will be interpreted in the five pilot projects, however, will become clear in the course of the project. By 2024, they should be effectively realised. Later, the successful pilot projects could ​ be used as an example for other projects. ​

Possible benefits of cooperative living for the co-owner include a lower (initial) own contribution, sharing efforts for common parts and co-determination over possibly even the public domain around it.

"There are actually three components: you become a co-owner, you get a right of use in the form of rent, for example, and you get a say," says Flemish minister of Housing Matthias Diependaele (N-VA). "I am convinced that the owner-occupied market will continue to be the backbone of our housing market in the future, but that does not mean that we should not make other choices possible."

The pilot projects are located in Deurne (Antwerp), Ghent, Lier, Kampenhout and Zedelgem.

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