News item | 20-06-2025 | 15:20
Minister Keijzer of Housing and Spatial Planning sends the bill for scrapping priority for status holders in the social rent for advice to the Council of State. The aim of the bill is to normalize the position of status holders on the housing market.
In the first year after the law entry into force, municipalities are given the opportunity to give status holders priority for renting room or shared living space for one year. This is considered an incentive to ensure that housing parts become the new standard for single status holders. This also helps with the outflow from asylum reception locations that are currently full.
Normalizing the position of status holders means that they have to look for a suitable home in the same way as other Dutch people. The minister is the first to address status holders on their own responsibility for finding housing. They can find a rental house themselves from a private landlord, buy a house or temporarily live with friends, family or a hospita. Sometimes status holders also get priority over a home through study or work. Other options are housing parts or using flex homes, flow spots or reception locations that have been converted into homes.
Flow locations and housing parts
The government is already using various instruments to increase the housing options for status holders and other home seekers. For example, municipalities receive a subsidy to open special flow locations, where other home seekers can also find a place. These temporary forms of living help status holders to start working and integration. In this way they leave the asylum shelter faster, which helps to lower the current pressure on the daycare. For other home seekers, these forms of living also offer opportunities for a faster start to their living career.
The bill was in consultation this spring, where everyone could respond to the bill. The consultation came from a lot of support from residents to normalize the position of status holders in the housing market. Many people who responded support the idea of no longer giving status holders priority in the queue for an affordable home. At the same time, municipalities, provinces and other organizations are concerned about the consequences. They want status holders to continue to move on from the asylum shelter to living space and be able to make a good start in society.
Grip on migration
The bill and the housing options are part of a set of measures that the cabinet takes to get a grip on migration by reducing the asylum intake and limiting the pressure on the reception. The measures from this package are introduced step by step and viewed together in conjunction. The ministers involved inform the House of Representatives about the progress before the summer.