The Biloba project stands for innovative housing integrated into the neighbourhood offering ageing people a quality of life in this working-class neighbourhood of the municipality of Schaerbeek in Brussels.

In addition to the creation of fifteen social housing units for seniors, the programme also includes the creation of a community centre and a day centre for the neighbourhood.

The cooperative in charge of the project is committed to guaranteeing the autonomy of seniors for as long as possible, both at the level of residents and at the level of the neighbourhood. They are guaranteed personalized assistance, whereby the degree of support varies according to the level of assistance required.

In this unique place, housing, well-being and social economy go hand in hand. Seniors are the driving force behind community life as they participate in various activities organized in the community centre such as: gardening, sewing, pastry making, cyber cafés or table d'hôte. These activities are aimed at both residents and the neighbourhood.

For the SLRB (Société du Logement de la Région de Bruxelles-Capitale), this was the first project with a private-public partnership of this type. The SLRB mainly took charge of the project management, financing and monitoring until the end of the project. At the end of the works, the social dwellings were entrusted to the local Public Service Housing Association, the Foyer Schaerbeekois, and the rest of the programme to the E.MM.A. cooperative. The dwellings are considered to be innovative because they are reserved for elderly people (+60 years old) who meet the criteria for admission to social housing and are understood to have ties with the Brabant neighbourhood.

The 15 low-energy residential units are arranged around a small inner courtyard adorned with a symbolic tree – the Biloba. In Japan, it is considered the tree of life, the bearer of hope and continuity.