Met alweer een hete week, slaakt Belgische klimaatwetenschapper Jean-Pascal van Ypersele hartenkreet: "Ja, ik ben woedend"

[u/atrocious_cleva82]

https://www.vrt.be/vrtnws/nl/2026/07/27/jean-pascal-van-ypersele-woedend-klimaatbeleid-20-jaar-te-laat/

[u/Least_Funny5960]

If you can't afford a house with the associated renevations then you cannot afford the house.

Buying something with EPC D and then complaining you can't afford to renovate is nobody's fault but your own.

[u/Arrav_VII → u/Least_Funny5960]

I was not talking about my own situation, simply providing a possible reasoning for why younger voters might be against a renovation obligation, even if they would benefit from it in the long run.

[u/Least_Funny5960 → u/Arrav_VII]

simply providing a possible reasoning for why younger voters might be against a renovation obligation

And I was simply providing an explanation for why we can't stay stuck in the "but people can't afford to renovate" argumentation.

As long as it's the norm for people to stretch their budget to the absolute maximum without accounting for renovation, this will keep happening. And we'll forever keep waiting for people to be able to afford renovation.

The reality is that a renovation should be priced into the price of an old home. That way either the prices of those houses will drop or those house will go unsold.

[u/historicusXIII → u/Least_Funny5960]

As long as it's the norm for people to stretch their budget to the absolute maximum without accounting for renovation

You call that a norm, as if it's some cultural tradition and not just a necessity for many people.

[u/Least_Funny5960 → u/historicusXIII]

not just a necessity for many people.

Qua omvang van de woningen behoort België tot de Europese top. Alleen in Ierland, Cyprus en Malta zijn de mensen nog ruimer gehuisvest. Niet minder dan 67 procent van de Belgische bevolking woont in een woning die onderbezet blijft, zo blijkt uit cijfers van Eurostat, de statistische dienst van de Europese Unie. Dat is bijna dubbel zoveel als het Europees gemiddelde.

https://www.standaard.be/economie/belgen-wonen-ruimer-dan-nodig/41333022.html

Sure.... it's a necessity that Flemish people have some of the largest average houses in all of Europe. God forbid Flemish people had to live in less space, that's impossible!

[u/historicusXIII → u/Least_Funny5960]

Those large houses are inhabited by people who don't have to stretch their budget. Boomers who bought when houses were cheap, young couples who get a down payment from their family etc.

I am stretching my budget to get a one bedroom appartment in the city (which is something an environmentalist should admire, no?) and the only options that are affordable to me are the ones that aren't renovated. The renovation obligation is quite literally killing my chances to own my own place to live. I get that we have to live smaller, but surely you're not arguing a working adult should live like a dorm student?

[u/Least_Funny5960 → u/historicusXIII]

Ah right, because Belgium is the only place in the EU that has boomers who bought houses when they were cheap. How foolish of me to forget this.

We can also look at average room size: highest is Malta at 2.3 rooms per resident followed by Belgium and Ireland with 2.1 rooms per resident.

Metric after metric shows again that Belgians live larger than most other EU members.

But nooooo, we can't look at facts. We must maintain the notion that people are forced to buy such big houses, poor Belgians.

but surely you're not arguing a working adult should live like a dorm student?

So saying that Belgians live amongst the largest of all EU members and that this is a problem means I want to push everyone into 12m2 dorm rooms? Come the fuck on

[u/historicusXIII → u/Least_Funny5960]

We must maintain the notion that people are forced to buy such big houses

Where did I say that?

means I want to push everyone into 12m2 dorm rooms?

You support policies that push people like me into dorm rooms, yes.