10 minutes with Alain Rosenoer, General Manager of SWL
Meet the faces behind housing providers across Europe
Charleroi, 24 November 2017 | Social, Urban, Economy, Energy
Every month we introduce you to one of the people leading the work of our member organisations. In this edition, we just took the train to nearby Charleroi in the heart of Wallonia to meet Alain Rosenoer. Alain manages Sociéte Wallonne du Logement (SWL) which is the Walloon Housing Company. He provides with insights concerning the perception of housing in the French-speaking region of Belgium and shares some thoughts about the current challenges. Plus, as usual, he unveils his way of balancing life with work.
SWL ID
- I would describe SWL in 10 words as an advisory, support and supervisory body for local public housing companies.
- Our key objective is to provide decent housing for all through the renting, acquisition or building of dwellings by the local public companies or by ourselves.
- Apart from housing provision, our mission is to
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to act as a financial intermediary between the Walloon government and the local public housing companies;
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to promote housing experimentation and research;
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to advise the Government on new policies or legislation projects.
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- We joined Housing Europe because sharing information and initiatives with other European countries is a source of knowledge and inspiration. As housing is not formally a European competence, an organization like Housing Europe is also essential to bring the focus on the cross-cutting character of the right of housing at that level.
In Wallonia
- Housing is considered to be in Wallonia a major bulwark against poverty and a gateway to other fundamental rights.
- Our key partners in Wallonia are the members of the “Alliance Wallonie Logement”, composed by SWL, the Walloon housing administration, the Fonds du Logement des familles nombreuses de Wallonie (FWL), the Société wallonne de Crédit social (SWCS) and the Centre d’Etudes en Habitat durable (CEHD). And of course, the 64 local public housing companies.
- Our main housing policy priority at the moment is a balance between promoting access to property and creating or renovating energy-efficient public homes for rent.
- The major challenge for Wallonia today is to build and renovate public housing adapted to different social trends such as population increase, population ageing and changing family patterns (dissolution of cohabiting unions, childbearing among single parents, etc.).
In Person
- I start my working day by greeting my colleagues. After that, I drink a cup of coffee while having a look at the press review and any important mail.
- Outside the office, I tend to connect back to my personal life because I leave the office rather late.
- Currently, I am reading 'La promesse de l’aube, by Romain Gary, and Le dérèglement du monde, by Amin Maalouf, while listening to extremely different things, including 'Alain Souchon on Léo Ferré' played by Christophe Maé, Guy Kummer Nicolussi on Wannes Van de Velde, without leaving out Pierre Rapsat.
- I move around by car because it’s the fastest way to move around Wallonia.
- I prefer having on my table fish, vegetables and a waffle.
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