The 24-year-old Dave Huijsman and his girlfriend Michelle van Bennekom (23), born and raised Texel, would have liked to continue living on Texel. After years of searching for a suitable home on the island, they finally decided to live in Den Helder. “We just can’t get in the way,” Dave says.
The cabinet wants municipalities to be able to allocate half of all owner-occupied and rental homes to people who already live in that municipality. First-time buyers, such as Dave and Michelle, often cannot find an affordable home in their hometown, because prices are skyrocketing due to significant outbidding. Often by people from outside. Even seniors cannot find a suitable apartment in their own municipality if they want to move on. Hence the amendment to the law that was sent to the House of Representatives.
Too late
“It’s just too late for us,” says Dave. “We have now bought a house in Den Helder and are planning to stay here for the time being. Of course we would have preferred to stay on the island. We were both born and raised on Texel, but we just can’t get in. We work I work at the NIOZ (Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, ed.) and Michelle is an occupational therapist at a practice in Den Burg, which means that we are on the boat every day to go to work. to go.”
Both residents of Texel have been looking for a home for more than three years. “We were looking really fanatically. I think we have viewed about fifteen homes and made seven serious bids, without results. You know that you should not look forward too much to a good outcome. But subconsciously you do that anyway and then it’s very disappointing if you didn’t get it.”
“We even adjusted our requirements. It no longer mattered what kind of home”
“We’ve even adjusted our requirements,” he continues. “It no longer mattered what kind of house, as long as we had a roof over our heads. Even that didn’t work. In Den Helder we could look for a house with specific requirements. We found that too. If you can find a house on Texel, it will cost you one and a half tons more.”
First to tenants
They tried everything, but they didn’t qualify for anything. Dave and Michelle both still live at home. An owner-occupied home from the Woontij housing association is therefore not an option either. “The homes that become available on the owner-occupied market are first offered to tenants. And because we are not now a tenant of Woontij, we have almost no chance there either.”
And other constructions also failed. “We have also registered for a CPO project (Collective Private Clientship, ed., which means that future residents themselves are clients of their new-build project) in Den Hoorn. But those costs were also far too high for us as a starter on the housing market. .”
“My grandparents would like to sell their house to us, but there is no alternative for them either”
Dave’s grandparents live in a single-family home and wanted to help. “They would like to sell their home to us, but there is no alternative for them either. Where should they go? Recently a senior apartment in Jan Dirksoord in Den Burg was for sale for four tons. Then they have to take out a new mortgage. So that just won’t work.”
Holiday home
According to Dave, the problem is that many people from the mainland buy a house on Texel. “They then buy a house on the island, but use it as a holiday home. It doesn’t matter to them what it costs. These houses are only inhabited for a few weeks a year.”
Does the couple plan to move to Texel again when the new law is passed? “No, in principle not. We have now made the choice. After ten or fifteen years we can always see how things are going. But for now we are building something in Den Helder.”
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