Belgium’s Flanders weighs using trash data to identify housing fraud

(MENAFN) Officials in Belgium’s Flanders region are examining the possibility of using household waste figures as part of new methods to identify abuse within the social housing system, according to reports released Tuesday.

The idea focuses on detecting domiciliary fraud, a practice in which registered tenants no longer actually reside in their social housing units or list more occupants at an address than permitted.

Such violations are treated as criminal offenses and can lead to sanctions.

At present, enforcement efforts depend on indicators such as utility consumption patterns, information gathered from neighbors, on-site inspections, and, when required, interviews or formal searches. Under a proposed draft decree, data on the volume of household waste would be added as another reference point.

Authorities have emphasized that this information would only be used as a supplementary signal rather than decisive proof. “An unusually small or large amount of waste can be a signal when there are suspicions. ... But we are not going to count rubbish bags,” the housing minister said.

The proposal forms part of a wider overhaul of social housing regulations, which also includes tougher language proficiency requirements, stricter rules tied to willingness to work, and increased scrutiny of property ownership abroad.

Alongside enforcement measures, the regional government aims to ease persistent housing shortages by expanding the supply of social housing. With more than 200,000 households currently waiting, plans are in place to add 56,000 new social housing units by 2042.

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