Because project developers are currently not building what is needed on the housing market, the cabinet is tightening the reins. From now on, Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Housing) wants to determine centrally where which type of houses will be built.
Now that the housing shortage has turned into a crisis, the government wants to take back control, almost as in the times when public housing was still being done. The housing shortage rose to 314,700 homes last year, prices are skyrocketing, the ‘market’ is not building what is needed, so municipalities and provinces will soon receive instructions on what can be built where. In concrete terms, the task is to add 900,000 homes up to and including 2030. But the second question is: which homes?
De Jonge believes that the national government should be responsible for this and is therefore introducing a new law. “We put too much faith in the market. But too little has been built, and too little has been built affordably. We want to take back control.”
At least two-thirds of new-build homes must soon be ‘affordable’: 40 percent of new-builds must be in the middle segment, an ‘affordable’ owner-occupied home will sell for a maximum of 355,000 euros. In addition, in municipalities that have too few social rental homes in stock, 30 percent of new construction will soon be social rental homes.
The new law must soon ensure that living in the city, for example, is not unaffordable. Or that there are only ‘bad’ neighbourhoods; municipalities must do more to become more diverse. De Jonge points out that only 40 of the 340 municipalities now have sufficient social housing: “Is that fair?”
De Jonge tightens the reins considerably. If a municipality ‘falls behind’ on the goals, the province can ‘obligate’ municipalities to adjust the plans. If that does not happen by then, the government can change the building plans itself. So overrule. Suppose, for example, that a municipality does not want to build in a neighboring meadow, just outside the village centre. Or that the province does not want that. In such a case, the minister can still say: we are going to allow it anyway. This will all be legally binding, in other words: the national government will decide. De Jonge: ,,I hope that stick is not necessary, it is for behind the door.”
Shortage
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Until the number of homes is increased considerably, the law will not immediately help against the shortages, De Jonge acknowledges at the same time. It is not ‘the magic formula’ to solve the housing shortage, he literally says. The nitrogen problem also stands in the way of construction projects: this law does not change that.
Nor is the law a solution for the distribution of the scarce homes that do exist. For example, asylum seekers who have been granted a residence permit are currently legally entitled to 8 to 12 percent of the available rental properties. This temporary priority will be maintained. In addition, the new law also designates people with ‘urgency’, such as sex workers who are quitting, or imminently homeless families. The shortcomings in those areas are not solved 1-2-3.
Paper reality
First of all, more homes are needed, De Jonge admits. And the law still has a long way to go: the House of Representatives and the Senate still have to consider it. De Jonge takes into account that implementation will not become a fact before 1 January 2024, perhaps even a year later.
And even more: suppose the economy plunges into recession and house building is not profitable for corporations or builders anyway, then nothing can be enforced. “You can’t solve that with this law. But housing is needed, it is just a question of adjusting the type of housing.”
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