The commune had significantly for people who are not related or in a relationship to share housing, including limiting flatshares to properties with fewer than three rooms and a maximum capacity of two inhabitans per room.

Mayor Georges Mischo (CSV) on 4 November told Radio 100,7 that the paragraph had been struck after the interior ministry intervened and said that the general development plan (PAG) is not a tool to regulate co-living.

The mayor had said that the rules aimed at enabling families to be able to find housing in the commune, citing fears that owners would split properties into separate rooms to increase the total amount of rent.

But critics including the opposition in the city council and citizen activist groups said the plans would push out students and other low-income groups who can only afford to live in the city because they share live in shared housing.

Mischo told Radio 100,7 that the maximum occupancy rules were based on Belgium fire protection regulation. “If our ministry thinks, this isn’t necessary […] then we’ll remove it,” he said.