The housing shortage is serious. Waiting lists for a social rental home are endless and affordable owner-occupied homes are hard to find. In the coming years, Brabant will build 130,000 homes. Nice plans, but will it work?
Four regional housing deals have been concluded. Agreements have been made about what kind of houses should be built. It has also been agreed how many social rental homes a municipality must have. Municipalities that are below 30 percent have to build it up. Municipalities that are above it then build more for middle incomes. 40 percent ‘affordable’ must be built. According to deputy Ronnes van Wonen “a bitter necessity”.
How did the housing market get to this point?
“The last backlogs actually arose between 2008 and 2015,” explains Ronnes. In 2008 we had a financial crisis in which the housing market completely collapsed. Subsequently, abuses at corporations came to light and strict rules were imposed on them, limiting their options. “The entire construction cycle came to a standstill until 2018. That’s where the backlogs come from and our growth is much greater than planned. We saw it coming, now we really have to get to work.”
Will the permit stop in Brabant throw a spanner in the works?
“It has not become easier to achieve the goals, but there are really a lot of places where we can just move forward.” The fact that it is becoming more difficult is also because permits are required for large projects. According to Ronnes, this should be carefully looked at. “So see if we can build in those places in such a way that we combat emissions. With other building materials, emission-free construction with electric tools.”
Are we going to make it at all?
According to Ronnes, it will work. “There is very strict management at the construction sites and not unimportantly: a lot is invested in the production of homes that are already ready and ready, the prefab homes. We have already shown that we can build 14 thousand homes in a year, why couldn’t we keep up the momentum?” According to Ronnes, we don’t need to be afraid of uniformity. “Nowadays you can print all facades differently.”
How ‘affordable’ are these houses really?
We are going to build for the mid-rental and 40% affordable purchase. Upon inquiry, this concerns a rental price of around 1,000 euros per month and a purchase amount of up to 355,000 euros. Not very affordable, Ronnes also understands. “An average young person with a nice job must indeed have saved some money,” he admits. “But by also building more affordable rental homes, you can at least start somewhere. In addition, but that is political, we really have to think about starter loans and other possibilities to help.” The aim is also to build owner-occupied homes that do not cost the maximum.
After 2030 everyone will have a house in Brabant?
Then, according to Ronnes, we are well on our way. “The concerns are in the forecasts, the expected increase in population numbers. If they rise faster than expected, then those 130 thousand homes are not enough.”
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