2023-09-04 16:51:00
For several years, the CPAS of Waterloo has been trying to enlarge the Le Gibloux nursing home. The 118 beds are no longer sufficient to meet all the “daily” requests received by the CPAS. To alleviate (partly) this problem, the former president of CPAS Etienne Verdin (now an independent municipal councilor) had requested the extension of 25 additional beds in the offices of the CPAS, the latter moving to another building (now with Waterloo Police at Office Park).
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The amount of work to accommodate these 25 additional beds, the current CPAS president Raphaël Szuma (MR) estimates at 2 million euros. According to the legislation, the subsidy from the Walloon Region was to cover approximately 60% of the amount, ie 1.2 million euros. In December 2021, the Waterloo CPAS had obtained an agreement in principle from Aviq, the Walloon Agency for Quality Life, with the condition of carrying out the work within five years.
But in 2020, in order to cope with the shortage of places, the legislation changed to allow an organizing power from the commercial sector to also claim a subsidy, where before only the non-commercial sector could. And there is the problem, because the modified decree does not include the calculations of the subsidies: “No possibility of obtaining subsidies in infrastructure currently exists. New texts were published in 2019 but inapplicable as they stand” informed Aviq in an email sent to the CPAS last February. An aberrant answer for the president of CPAS: “The Walloon Region has always subsidized for rest homes but by modifying the law to do more, they ended up doing less” before continuing “In four years, no one has stopped for two minutes to calculate this envelope”.
To correct this situation, Raphaël Szuma directly contacted the cabinet of the Minister of Social Action Christie Morreale (PS). But since then, seven months have passed and no response from the minister.
Contacted on this subject, the minister’s office informs us that they are trying to understand and resolve this situation. He also made contact with the Aviq, who seemed unaware. The Minister is continuing the research and contacts and wishes to clarify the situation in the coming days.
This situation, the elected official from Waterloo would like to resolve as soon as possible: “Must I remind you that the share of Belgian citizens over 65 in the total population will go from 18% today to almost by 26% in 2040? Today and particularly in Walloon Brabant, the cruel lack of places in rest homes is already being sorely felt and leaves no room for such aberrations. Once again, this rant is not my habit, but I see my teams explain daily to families looking for a solution that they will have to wait… again and again when time is sorely lacking” he announces in a statement.
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