when French retirees move to Belgian nursing homes

To the west of Wallonia, Rongy (Belgium) is one of the last villages before France. But in a retirement home, there are no borders. Half of the residents are French. Renée and her husband arrived last January. They came above all because the residence costs less than in France. Between the two countries, the monthly rates sometimes vary from simple to double. In Belgium, establishments receive state subsidies which allow them to offer more affordable prices. Unlike France, the rate is the same for everyone regardless of the level of dependency.

600 euro difference

So along the border, the phenomenon is the same everywhere. In Cul-des-Sarts (Belgium), another establishment accommodates 96 residents, one third of whom are French. At 90, Geneviève Marteaux left her French retirement home to come to Belgium for financial reasons. “It was too expensive for me, I had to sell my house. Here it was cheaper, there was a difference of 600 euros, so it’s still appreciable”, she says. The quality of reception also pushes caregivers to move abroad.