The action group Too Duur forced the referendum by collecting more than 27,000 signatures. The activists and the Ghent city council have put together two questions that are presented to all Ghent residents over the age of 16. On the one hand, they can ask to no longer privatize municipal public real estate. On the other hand, the creation of a ‘bank of public lands’ is being discussed to achieve 40 percent social housing.
Keeping public real estate and increasing the number of social housing is a response to what activists call a neoliberal privatization policy. They also criticize the ‘living as profit’ model. Ghent has been struggling for years with a major shortage of social housing and a shortage on the housing market in general.
According to a recent study, an additional 20,000 households will be looking for a home in the city by 2040. This means that the shortage will rise to almost 6,000 homes. To increase the share of social housing to 16 percent by 2040, there is a need for 5,800 additional social rental homes on top of those already planned.
All parties in the Ghent city council, except N-VA, support the idea of setting up a land bank, but a general ban on the sale of public real estate is not taken seriously. The city has plots or buildings in its heritage here and there that are no longer useful.