Prisoners must return home

Detainees serving a long prison sentence must lose their social housing.

That proposal is made by the political party N-VA in Belgium. 'It is absurd that homes are vacant for years, while a hundred thousand people are waiting for a home', says Flemish parliamentarian Marc Hendrickx to Het Nieuwsblad..

The rule is now in Belgium that prisoners can not lose their social housing because they are registered as 'temporarily absent'.

'A gap in the law that we have to tackle', say federal member of parliament Sophie De Wit and Flemish parliamentarian Marc Hendrickx. 'It concerns many dozens of houses in Flanders and every year ten to twenty are added. Sometimes these houses have been uninhabited for years, but there are also facts known about illegal subleasing, temporary use for prostitution and even hiding places for other criminals. '

'If prisoners are in prison for four, five years or longer, their social housing must be able to be taken over. '

If a prisoner is then released, they have to make a new application for a rental home, according to the party. The N-VA wants to submit the proposal after the summer

.

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