National Housing Week Kicks Off in Luxembourg

Luxembourg's National Housing Week (Home Expo) is taking place at LuxExpo The Box in Luxembourg-Kirchberg from 9 to 17 October 2021.

This year's exhibitors (around 100 in total) include some of the Grand Duchy's most renowned institutions, including the Ministry of Housing, and consulting centres, as well as local real estate agents. Architects and engineers from across the country will be available to share their knowledge with visitors to the exhibition.

The inaugural ceremony of National Housing Week last Friday was the occasion for Luxembourg's Minister of Housing, Henri Kox, to present his priorities and the efforts being made for the development of affordable public housing.

For a growing number of people, it is becoming increasingly difficult to find accommodation at affordable prices. According to the Ministry of Housing, government policy thus places a double emphasis on the difficult situation of the most vulnerable: firstly, by significantly increasing the supply of affordable public housing and secondly, by helping individuals with more generous financial assistance and a fairer rental market framework in favour of tenants.

With the creation of the Special Housing Development Support Fund in 2019, the launch of the Housing Pact 2.0 in July 2020, large-scale construction projects as well as several resources and small projects carried out by public promoters, the affordable and public housing offensive is, according to the Ministry, "finally on track". In 2020, the annual expenditure for affordable housing of the special fund was almost €100 million; by 2023, this amount will have doubled to exceed €200 million.

Minister Henri Kox announced that before the end of the year, two additional bills reforming housing assistance will be tabled. The first of these bills will bring long-awaited novelties in the field of assistance for affordable housing developers. It also includes the introduction of a “national affordable rental registry”, a definition of affordability and a new system for calculating affordable rent. The second bill provides for the reform of individual aid through which the State supports home ownership and financial aid for vulnerable tenants. Moreover, the reform provides for administrative simplification in the access and allocation of this financial aid, which will also be more generous than in the past.

In his speech, the Housing Minister also placed particular emphasis on the supervision of private rental. The law concerning the sanitation of housing and furnished rooms, in force since 2019, will be clarified and strengthened. There are also plans to tighten up the legislation on rental leases.

National Housing Week, organised by the Ministry of Housing and integrated into the traditional “Home Expo” housing exhibition at LuxExpo The Box, is the flagship event for all housing stakeholders in Luxembourg.

The Housing Ministry's one-stop shop for housing assistance is present at stand A29 in Hall 9 of LuxExpo The Box, where its team is available for any information concerning the submission of requests for financial assistance. Researchers from the Housing Observatory (Observatoire de l'Habitat) will be on hand to provide explanations on their latest publications as well as on developments in the housing market.

Opening hours (9 to 17 October):

Saturdays and Sundays: 10:00 to 19:00
Monday to Wednesday: 12:00 to 20:00
Thursday and Friday: 12:00 to 21:00

Further information is available at: https://home-expo.lu/en/semaine-nationale-du-logement-4/.