If it were up to outgoing Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Housing), the area between Assen and Groningen would change drastically after 2030. In total, he wants to build another million homes across the country after that year. One of the designated locations for part of this is the area between Assen and Groningen.
981,000 houses must also be built before 2030. But according to the minister, that is not enough, he writes in a letter to the House of Representatives. His expectation is that approximately the same number will need to be added in the next ten years. He has designated five areas for those extra houses, mainly in ‘the region’, not in the Randstad.
Good news for the home seeker? Opinions are divided in Drenthe.
“Very surprising, but welcome,” responds deputy Yvonne Turenhout (PvdA). Previous proposals and reports on housing development in the region have received a lukewarm response, she says. Yet those reports on the importance of investing in the region now appear to be “the founder of the new policy that the government is developing,” says Turenhout. “We are very happy with this and would like to discuss it.”
However, she believes that there must be preconditions to facilitate the construction of all those homes. “You cannot get there with housing alone. People must also be able to recreate in the area. They must be able to work there and public transport must be well organised. It is about the total picture of a liveable province.”
Drenthe municipalities are not immediately enthusiastic about the intention. In Tynaarlo, the next seven years will focus on the needs of the municipality. “The need is approximately nine hundred to a thousand homes. That is what we are now building for,” says Jurryt Vellinga (Liveable Tynaarlo), councilor of the municipality of Tynaarlo.
Tynaarlo also believes that additional new construction is only feasible if the government also focuses more on the quality of life in the villages. “If we give a boost to infrastructure, public transport, social facilities and employment, there will also be a greater need for housing. Then we will also build more homes.”
A station in Tynaarlo could be such an incentive. “That would be a very nice boost for our infrastructure and for the accessibility of our municipality. Then you will see that there will be more demand for homes, more than those thousand.”
In addition, Vellinga believes that the government should provide extra money to facilitate more affordable housing, because affordable housing “costs the municipality a lot of money”, says Vellinga. “It would be great if we were also encouraged by the government to build more affordable housing,” Vellinga says.
But if the government meets these requirements one by one, the question remains whether many homes can be added. “Maybe we could build an additional five hundred to eight hundred homes, but then we really have to look carefully where in this municipality.”
But additional housing construction is out of the question for the municipality of Noordenveld, says councilor Jos Darwinkel (Municipal Interests). “We have agreed on an ambition with the municipal council. We have made agreements with Hugo de Jonge, the twelve Drenthe municipalities and the province for housing construction. That is for the next ten years. We want to stick to that and realize it first .”
Additional housing is not realistic in the current market, says Darwinkel. “We first have our hands full with the agreements we have now made.”