The municipality of Assen wants the central government to contribute to building houses. The provincial capital wants to grow seriously in the future and hoped for outgoing minister Mona Keijzer of public housing and spatial planning to convince a working visit to invest more money in local housing projects.
Keijzer was today together with King Willem-Alexander in Assen. They visited a construction site, spoke with residents of a newly completed home and sat down with entrepreneurs about the development of the city center.
Assen has something the minister wants to have: concrete places and a great ambition to build more houses. The city wants to build 10,000 new houses for the future and 5,000 jobs. And the minister has what Assen wants: euros to put all those homes. Five billion no less than the next five years.
Unfortunately for Assen today the minister did not take a check with a large amount of money from The Hague, although she is impressed by the housing plans in the provincial capital. Yet she hinted that Assen can count on support in the future. The government is already putting money into a housing program for the economic region around Groningen and Assen. In 2040 it is intended that there are 28,000 extra jobs in the entire area and 36,000 new homes are located.
Assen can use the money from the government for a number of large housing plans. Alderman Cor Staal (ChristenUnie) van Wonen hopes for a contribution of ‘5 to 10 million’ for the new Stadskwartier. From the Havenkade to the Stadshart, 1,350 new homes have to rise and the municipality is investing 122 million euros.
Especially in the center of the city there are construction plans that have been standing still for years. The former shopping center ‘t Forum is there with his wanded windows sad, just like the vacant building of the bankrupt V&D department store. In the meantime, the municipality is buying in the Rolderstraat, where retail properties and catering industry have to turn into new houses.
Buying the land under ‘t Forum and the V&D can, according to Alderman Staal, be a’ possible solution ‘to quickly draw that construction project. “That is in the plan that we have presented, the Stadskwartier program. So here too we are going to take control of the development, so that construction can be done in about three years,” says Staal.
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