It is often argued that the substantial participation of the middle classes in the social security system is functional in combating poverty. According to this argument, it is because of its universal character that the system has sufficient societal support to be able to offer an acceptable, minimum level of protection to low-income groups or groups at risk. Since the mid-1990s in Flanders, Belgium, the government has used this argument to increase the income ceilings for housing subsidies. In this contribution, using data and discourses, we critically examine this trend, showing that the middle classes are neither excluded from these subsidies nor the victims of a newly emerging housing need.

These commentaries point to two issues. The first is that policy makers from different political parties and at different levels have worked, and continue to work, hard to channel more housing subsidies to the middle-classes. The second is that those households and people with the greatest housing needs are being ignored. Problem one relates to the legitimacy of housing policies in general; problem two is related to their selectivity, and to the goals of the Belgian Constitution and the Flemish housing code to subsidize, preferably, those households and persons most in need.