A roof above your head. That is the first condition for everyone's well-being and therefore also for the well-being of society. A warm and safe home. Isn't that what everyone is entitled to?

For many people in Flanders, and certainly in cities such as Antwerp, the reality is different. Although the right to housing is in our constitution, it has been increasingly eroded in recent decades.

The majority of private renters spend more than a third of their income on rent. Moreover, almost a third of private rented housing is of poor quality. Add to this discrimination on the housing market and it is clear that more and more people are dropping out.

Not least because Flanders has only 6 per cent social housing. At least 14 per cent is needed to meet demand. So of the hundreds of thousands of families entitled to social housing, more are on a waiting list - often endlessly long - than are effectively housed in social housing.

As a result, for an increasing number of people, including families, and young people, homelessness is the harsh reality.

Together with Antwerps Platform Wonen and Avansa, Spreken is Goud invites you to an evening about the many facets of the current housing crisis, and the initiatives and measures needed to effectively guarantee the right to (sustainable and quality) housing.

Anouk Torbeyns, editor in chief of StampMedia, will be in conversation with Joy Verstichele, coordinator of the Vlaams Huurdersplatform and author of De inzichtbare wooncrisis (2019), Sarah Lampen, youth worker at Betonne Jeugd and urban planner Els Vervloesem (KULeuven).

With the series Leefbare Stad, Spreken is Goud examines what is going on in the city and how we can work towards a sustainable future for all, including in the field of housing and mobility. Indeed, sustainability not only involves care for the environment but also respect for the rights of every human being: social justice is a necessary condition for climate transition.