Renolution Grants Favor Affluent Brussels Areas, Study Finds

A new study from the Brussels Institute for Statistics and Analysis (IBSA) has revealed significant disparities in how Renolution renovation grants are distributed across the Brussels-Capital Region, with affluent southeastern neighborhoods capturing a vastly disproportionate share of the nearly 279 million euros allocated between 2022 and 2025.

According to RTBF, the grants are heavily concentrated in the municipalities of Uccle, Watermael-Boitsfort, Auderghem, and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, as well as Woluwe-Saint-Lambert and Forest to a lesser extent. At the other end of the spectrum, the Pentagon district in Brussels’ city center and neighborhoods near the Canal recorded the lowest grant amounts.

What Is Renolution?

Launched in 2020, Renolution is the Brussels-Capital Region’s flagship building renovation strategy. Its ambitious targets include eliminating all energy-inefficient housing rated PEB F and G by 2033, achieving an average PEB level of C+ for all Brussels housing by 2050, and reducing average energy consumption by a factor of three compared to pre-renovation levels. The program provides financial grants to property owners for energy renovation work including insulation, heating system upgrades, and facade improvements.

Nearly 80% of the grant amounts were allocated to energy renovation work, primarily roof insulation, sealing, and facade insulation.

Structural Imbalance in Housing Types

The study highlights a stark imbalance in how grants are distributed across different housing types. Brussels has 86% apartments and only 14% single-family homes, yet single-family homes captured 44% of all Renolution grants. As La Libre reports, the IBSA explains this by noting that it is simply easier to decide and organize work when one is the sole owner of a house than when collective decisions are required among co-owners in condominiums.

Owner-occupants, who are generally associated with higher socio-economic levels, received 51% of all grant amounts distributed between 2022 and 2025. According to Bruxelles Today, 74% of single-family home owners occupy their own homes.

Equity Concerns Raised

The IBSA study explicitly raises questions about equitable access to renovation subsidies. The institute warns that tenants, low-income households, and elderly people face significantly more obstacles in accessing the grants.

“The financial incentives of renovation policies mainly benefit owners who already have the capital and solvency necessary to carry out renovation work,” the IBSA states in its report, as cited by RTBF and La Libre.

The institute further warns that “renovation policies based on grant systems can therefore accentuate existing inequalities, by having differentiated effects according to social groups.”

Several structural factors drive the unequal distribution. Applying for grants, organizing contractors, and financing upfront costs require administrative capacity, time, and financial liquidity that lower-income households and elderly residents may lack. Tenants cannot apply for grants at all — only property owners can — and landlords often have less incentive to renovate if costs cannot be passed on.

Policy Implications

The findings come at a pivotal moment for Brussels’ renovation policy. In 2025, the new Brussels regional government began signaling a shift away from the grant-based system toward zero-interest loans, citing the need for more equitable distribution. The grant portal was temporarily suspended before being reopened amid political debate over the program’s future direction.

The IBSA’s findings lend weight to arguments that the current system risks widening existing inequalities — wealthier neighborhoods gain greener, more energy-efficient housing while poorer areas fall further behind. This tension between climate goals and social equity is at the heart of the policy challenge facing Brussels.

Brussels has one of the most energy-intensive building stocks in Europe, with most buildings constructed before the 1960s. About one-third of housing units are owner-occupied, meaning the majority of residents — tenants — are structurally excluded from directly accessing Renolution grants. The study suggests that without targeted interventions, the program’s very design may work against its stated goal of improving energy efficiency across all segments of the population.

What’s Next

As of the study’s publication on July 13, 2026, no official government response has been reported. The findings are expected to fuel ongoing debates about the future of the Renolution program and whether the shift toward zero-interest loans and more targeted support for vulnerable households will address the structural disparities identified by the IBSA.

For context on the Renolution ordinance and its PEB targets, additional background is available from Jubel/Notaire.be.

The question remains whether Brussels can meet its ambitious climate targets — eliminating all energy-inefficient housing by 2033 and achieving an average PEB level of C+ by 2050 — without leaving its most vulnerable residents behind. The IBSA study suggests that without fundamental changes to how renovation support is structured, the green transition in Brussels risks becoming yet another driver of urban inequality.