News item | 15-03-2023 | 4:46 pm
The government, the provinces of North Holland and Flevoland and the municipalities in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (AMA) have made agreements to quickly build more homes. Up to and including 2030, more than 170,000 homes must be added, approximately two-thirds of which are in the affordable segment. This concerns about 113,000 affordable homes.
Enlarge image
The parties involved signed the Woondeal MRA for this purpose today in Purmerend. On behalf of the State, a signature has been made by Minister for Housing and Spatial Planning (VRO) Hugo de Jonge.
In the Housing Deal, the municipalities and provinces have agreed in the MRA what contribution they can make to the national housing task and what is required for this. The MRA Housing Deal focuses on the construction of 171,200 homes, almost a fifth of the national target. The agreements are reciprocal, which means that the government will commit itself to removing bottlenecks for housing, for example in the areas of climate-proof construction, noise, nitrogen and energy supply. This is necessary to make up for the housing shortage in the MRA more quickly and to improve the affordability of living in the region.
Regional elaboration of provincial housing agreements
The provincial housing agreements that were made last year have been elaborated regionally in Woondeals, including the Woondeal MRA. At the same time, Woondeals were signed today with Noord-Holland Noord and the ZUND region: the Flevoland municipalities of Zeewolde, Urk, Noordoostpolder and Dronten. These three housing deals concern agreements on the construction of nearly 220,000 homes. The new MRA Housing Deal replaces the 2019 Housing Deal and is aimed at a long-term collaboration to tackle the housing construction task energetically.
‘By signing the regional housing deals in North Holland and Flevoland, good for the construction of nearly 220,000 homes up to and including 2030, we are taking an important step in reducing the housing shortage,’ says minister Hugo de Jonge. ‘A great ambition, which is achievable thanks to the involvement of municipalities, corporations and market parties. With these homes we provide more affordable and good quality homes in villages and towns in North Holland and Flevoland.’
Joint effort necessary
The MRA is positive about the government’s renewed attention to public housing in the Netherlands and sees the collaboration with the government via the Housing Deal as an opportunity to jointly tackle new construction production and the broader problems in the housing market as a joint effort by the government and the region. This is only possible in close cooperation with housing corporations, market parties and social partners.
There is a great need to work together and requires commitment from all parties involved. This is an additional challenge at a time of, among other things, rising construction costs and higher interest rates and insufficient personnel capacity in the market and government. We need all the efforts and all parties involved for this. The efforts of the national government, and in particular the minister for VRO, are indispensable. The Housing Deal MRA, and also the offer from the two provinces on which it was based, describes as concretely as possible what is required of the State in the MRA to fill in the correct preconditions so that the objectives can be achieved. This concerns, for example, noise, nitrogen, energy and affordability. Both the market parties and housing associations are rightly concerned about the number of preconditions that still need to be met in order to achieve sufficient housing before 2031.
‘As the national government and the region, we really need each other to ensure that there are more affordable homes for the many home seekers in the municipalities of the MRA. We are doing our utmost to work on this together with the housing corporations and market parties. The new Housing Deal agreements help us with this,’ says Floor Roduner, alderman in Haarlem and chair of the MRA’s portfolio holders’ meeting for Building & Living. ‘We therefore also ask the minister to make every effort to solve the bottlenecks, where it is up to the government. This may concern regulations or financial resources, for example. We have made agreements about this as concretely as possible in the Housing Deal. In the coming years we will keep each other sharp and discuss the agreements and the mutual efforts to fulfill those agreements.’
All municipalities contribute
With the Woondeal MRA, all parties are committed to a share of two-thirds affordable in new construction (social rent up to € 808, mid-market rent up to € 1,000 per month and purchase up to € 355,000, price level 2022) and the aim to grow to at least 30% social in the existing stock. Directional housing assignments for 2022-2030 have been included for each municipality, which will be elaborated in 2023 at sub-regional and municipal level.
Locations and regional gear tables
The Housing Deal includes a list of large housing locations, where a large proportion of the agreed homes will be located. Through (sub)regional ‘acceleration tables’, progress and bottlenecks are discussed with the relevant market parties, corporations and water boards and solutions are sought.
In recent years, many of these locations have already received a financial contribution from the government through the Housing Construction Impulse or MIRT funds. This certainly does not apply to all locations on the list and to the other locations that are visible via www.plancapacity.nl. The region has therefore also emphasized in the preconditions that more resources are needed to achieve all affordability targets. Moreover, in line with the ambition from the Urbanization Concept of the national and regional governments, the cooperating authorities in the MRA do not only want to build (affordable) homes, but complete societies, with the right (social) facilities and sufficient employment opportunities in a liveable and healthy environment.
The signing of the housing deals took place in Purmerend, a choice that was not made by chance. ‘Purmerend is a municipality that traditionally builds a lot, also for people from the region,’ says Purmerend alderman Natalie Saaf. ‘A municipality where many have found a place and where they enjoy living. But also a municipality where the housing shortage is acute. Where an affordable home is no longer available, especially for the low and middle incomes. We see prices and waiting lists rising and people jostling each other to find a roof over their heads. Concrete agreements with the national government and the region are therefore urgently needed. With the Woondeal MRA, the municipalities in our region contribute to reducing the shortage of affordable homes in particular. This will reduce the pressure on the housing market, which will also benefit our residents.’