Could Jardin’âges open its inclusive housing community in Chastre by mid-2028?

Jardin’âges proposes a small intergenerational community for ten autonomous seniors and nine adults with a mild or moderate intellectual disability. Its published plans provide nine one-bedroom senior flats of about 44 square metres and one two-bedroom flat of about 67 square metres. For adults with disabilities, there would be six rooms in a shared unit and three self-contained flats.

Shared facilities would include a dining room, lounge, laundry, guest room and flexible activity space. A garden, orchard and vegetable plot would occupy part of the roughly half-hectare site between Avenue des Érables and Avenue des Bouleaux. The intention is to create ordinary private homes around spaces where residents can meet, while preserving the right to privacy.

This is important because “inclusive” does not mean that older residents become unpaid carers. Jardin’âges says a professional partner will provide supervision for residents with intellectual disabilities, particularly in the morning and after they return from daytime activities at about 16:00. The foundation reports having consulted five nearby support providers and says discussions with a preferred service are advanced, but it has not publicly identified the provider or announced a signed operating agreement.

Likewise, the scheme should not automatically be equated with an AVIQ-approved service de logements supervisés, or SLS. The Walloon public-service portal describes an SLS as individual or small-group housing combined with recognised, personalised support for daily life. Entry normally involves an assessment by the relevant AVIQ regional office and, where appropriate, registration on the sector’s unified waiting list. Jardin’âges has not publicly confirmed that its homes will carry that status, so prospective residents should ask which regulatory and funding arrangement will apply before relying on SLS eligibility rules.

Under the option favoured by Jardin’âges, part of its land would be sold to the social-property fund. The fund would own and finance the building, while a substantial section of the site would remain available for the garden and small-scale food growing. Jardin’âges says this structure should produce a lower rent than the alternative of granting the investor a long lease, or emphyteusis.

The Agence de Promotion Immobilière du Brabant wallon, commonly abbreviated APIBW and formerly the provincial land agency, has approved the proposed approach, according to Jardin’âges. That removes a potential pre-emption complication, but it does not replace planning permission or settle the eventual rents. An earlier architectural exercise estimated the project envelope at €3.5 million; contractor bids will determine how useful that estimate remains.

The current scheme is smaller and operationally different from Jardin’âges’ original ambition. Local broadcaster Canal Zoom reported in 2024 that the organisation had abandoned plans for a 30-flat serviced residence and a day centre for 15 adults with disabilities. It instead chose grouped housing in which residents with disabilities would attend outside activities during the day and receive support at home at defined times. In October 2025, Canal Zoom reported that the foundation was still trying to formalise partnerships with both a financier-builder and a care provider.

That history explains why the latest approval matters. The project has existed in different forms for more than a decade, and Chastre municipal records show that deadlines attached to an earlier public-housing programme could not be met. Approval from the social-property fund does not mean construction has started, but it moves the revised scheme beyond preliminary interest and towards a buildable financial model.

The project is in French-speaking Wallonia, and Chastre’s commune, the SPW and the AVIQ conduct the relevant procedures principally in French. There is no Dutch-language test for renting an ordinary private home there. However, residents who need disability support should expect assessments, contracts and coordination with French-speaking services; newcomers who are not comfortable in French may wish to bring an interpreter or support person.

Interested seniors can use the registration link on jardinages.be to be invited to discussions about the community charter and future lettings. Families seeking supported accommodation should separately contact the AVIQ Bureau régional d’Ottignies to discuss recognition, support rights and the unified waiting-list procedure. They should ask Jardin’âges four concrete questions: what the rent and shared charges will cover; which professional service will provide supervision; what level of autonomy residents must have; and whether AVIQ recognition or another formal decision will be required.

The next reliable milestones will be the identification of the fund and support provider, contractor pricing, submission and approval of the planning application, and publication of rents and selection rules. Until those pieces are in place, mid-2028 is best understood as an optimistic working target—not a move-in date on which families should base irreversible plans.