Sven Van Elst studied Germanic languages and literature at the University of Antwerp (Belgium). After his studies, he worked for 10 years as a teacher of Dutch as a foreign language at the University of Antwerp and was actively involved in several European projects for the development of foreign language teaching materials.

From 2004 to 2010 he was successively a parliamentary assistant in the Chamber of Representatives and a cabinet member at the Province of Antwerp.

In 2010 he made the switch to the social housing sector as a staff member at the umbrella organisation of the Flemish social housing companies VVH (Association of Flemish Housing Companies). In 2017 he became general secretary of VVH.

He was actively involved in the preparation and realisation of the ASTER project that ran from 2018 to 2022 with the support of the European Investment Bank.

In 2022, after a short period as operational director, Sven Van Elst became general manager of ASTER, a cooperative company of Flemish social landlords with the main objective of supporting the sector in making their patrimony more sustainable.