Turnhout (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Turnhout is helping residents make their homes energy-efficient through Collective renovation projects, focusing on Parkwijk, Beguinage, and apartment buildings. Hannes Anaf emphasizes support for financially struggling residents.
Turnhout has started collective renovation projects. Turnhout is helping people make their homes more energy-efficient. They have 3 projects to help people. 2 of the projects are in the Parkwijk neighborhood and the Beguinage. These projects help groups of people work together to fix up their homes. This way, they can save money and get help along the way.
Officials mentioned that the Beguinage project is special because it has old buildings that need to be kept safe. The town of Turnhout is assisting by providing individuals with advice, paperwork assistance, and funds to ensure that all can participate. The town wishes to ensure that even individuals without much money can get their homes to be more energy-efficient.
How is Turnhout helping residents renovate homes and save energy?
Turnhout is also helping people who live in big apartment buildings. The city is helping them get money to make their buildings better. Officials mentioned that the buildings would be fixed up with new insulation, new walls, and new heating systems.
A leader from the Flemish government visited one of these projects to show their support. The leader from Turnhout said that people still have problems getting their buildings fixed up. He said that the city and the Flemish government want to use these projects to show other cities how to help people fix up their homes.
“We want to support and help people renovate their homes or large apartment buildings,”
says Anaf.
We see that there are often still thresholds, and that is why we want to relieve them as much as possible.”
According to the officials, the city of Turnhout is helping people save money on their energy bills and make their homes more eco-friendly. They’re having meetings and distributing pamphlets with tips for making houses energy-efficient. In the pamphlets, they go over how to enhance insulation, replace windows, and improve heat systems.
They mentioned that the city also helps people apply for government money to pay for these improvements. They are also helping people buy materials and services together so they can get lower prices.
“For people who don’t have the resources to renovate, it’s often even more important to get that energy bill down.”
Hannes Anaf (Forward)
Turnhout is especially focused on helping people who are struggling financially. They know that high energy bills can be a big problem for these people. Hannes Anaf explained that they should assist individuals who are not in a position to give their homes an energy efficiency upgrade. He indicated that upgrading the energy efficiency of homes could assist in saving individuals money and improve their standard of living.
The city wants to help these people by giving them the information and support they need to make their homes better. He mentioned that if these projects are successful, the city wants to help even more people in the future.
