Additional 100 million euros to solve the "housing issue"

The Cabinet of Ministers is ready to allocate 100 million euros for the implementation of "promising projects" for the construction of affordable housing. Among such projects are the construction of temporary housing (flexwoningen) and the conversion of empty buildings of one purpose or another into housing stock. Total from 2024 they plan to build 100 thousand houses a year.

Temporary housing – flexwoningen

Affordable housing is now waiting for tens of thousands of middle and low-income Dutch people. This category of the population cannot purchase a house or apartment with their own money, so they can only rely on social housing. However, as we wrote in our article, in percentage terms, in recent years, the construction of such housing has been declining.

Note! Flexwoningen are modular houses. Modules are manufactured at the factory and then delivered to the installation site and assembled. After the final assembly and insulation, communications are connected. The period of stay of a modular house at the installation site is from 10 to 15 years, then it is moved to another place. The main advantage of such temporary housing is a short construction period: less than one year. It takes an average of 5-7 years to build an ordinary house.

Among the 100 houses planned to be built a year, 15 are modular houses that will be temporarily located somewhere and then moved to another place. But so far in the Netherlands, the number of modular homes being built is far behind the planned figures: instead of 000, only about 15 were built in 000.

Refurbishment of premises from non-residential stock – transformatiewoning

The housing issue is also planned to be solved by re-equipping existing buildings for other purposes into residential buildings. The refurbishment of offices and vacant retail properties could yield 15 residential properties in the long term, both for temporary and permanent use.

Objects suitable for conversion are often located near railway stations, that is, within the city, in old industrial areas. This is within reach of public transport routes. However, it is difficult and not always profitable for municipalities to implement transformatiewoning projects. Now that financial assistance is available for this, the situation may change for the better.

Pitfalls in the implementation of projects

Housing Minister Hugo de Jonge says 100 million euros “Give impetus to these promising projects”. According to him, “The queues for housing are now very long. Whether it concerns people who are eligible for priority housing, Ukrainians under temporary protection, or refugees, we want to help everyone who is eligible for housing.”. However, municipalities are reluctant to cooperate, and there are reasons for this.

An example is the situation in the city of Putten (Province of Gelderland). The municipality wanted to quickly build 45 modular homes in two locations. But the neighbors at one of the sites did not like it at all: as a result of the protest action, 450 signatures were collected against the construction of modular houses. People did not know for whom this temporary housing was intended. The fear of new dysfunctional neighbors caused a wave of resistance among the inhabitants of the city.

Note! Among the obstacles in solving the housing problem is the long time to obtain building permits. It now takes ten years before the construction plan is actually implemented, seven of which are spent in obtaining permits and handling legal objections, among other things.

Solving Problems

“We are not going to solve housing problems with one stroke of the pen”, says de Jonge. However, he is focused on taking more control of the situation. Working agreements will be concluded with the provinces and municipalities on the number of houses to be built, on the affordability of housing for people with average incomes, and on the quality of real estate.

By the end of 2022, the regions must determine how much housing will be built in the next ten years. In order to speed up the consideration of documents for construction and obtaining permits in the relevant government agencies, more employees will be recruited.

Other measures to provide the Dutch with affordable housing

Until 2030, Minister De Jonge plans to build about 900 houses, of which at least two-thirds are houses available for rent. And about 600 houses will be built for sale. The Cabinet of Ministers is striving to ensure that the number of social rental housing is evenly distributed among the municipalities. Each municipality must have in its housing stock at least 30% social rental housing – more about it in our article. Also recently we wrote that Minister De Jonge presented the House for All program to the House of Representatives.

De Jonge calls the housing shortage too big. “Houses are expensive, people with low or average incomes are now too often left behind”, the minister said. He believes that the provision of affordable housing in the Netherlands has been neglected for too long, something has gone wrong.

Note! The figure of 900 homes in 000 is a result based on a preliminary assessment of demographic and economic changes. But certain factors can affect the situation: for example, it is already difficult to find builders, engineers, designers, as well as available land for development.

In the near future, the minister plans to conclude agreements with municipalities and create a task force to select projects that can be implemented as quickly as possible. He also gave orders to provide practical support to local authorities, housing associations and construction companies.

Publication Date: 15.06.2022