At the end of 2023 The municipality started a test To give home seekers with a crucial appeal priority on a social rental home. Ultimately, only teaching staff could use this benefit.
Possibly that made sure that the experiment was not very successful: teachers generally earn too much for social rent. That is why few ‘matches’ have been found. Also, some teachers who were looking for a home were not working in Gooise Meren but in another municipality. The scheme did not apply to that.
Yet alderman Nico Schimmel says that he had more hope in this experiment. “We started this to give people in education a better position in the housing market. The outcome is not as we have expected.”
Hilversum was successful
In the municipality of Hilversum she took a different approach. Police and care workers were also given priority over the social rental properties there. Especially for the workers in healthcare, it turned out that a success: of the 30 homes that Hilversum made available, 22 could go to care staff.
For healthcare employers, the experiment has thus contributed to attracting and retaining staff. It didn’t yield much to the police: one employee could reach a house through this scheme. Education was a little more successful – four teachers found a home through the test, but it was also not a decisive nature.
Still successful
Yet Schimmel van Gooise Meren says that the experiment has also yielded a lot. “For example, we have now found that people in education quickly earn too much for a social rental home. At the same time, we have collected valuable information that we can use to improve the distribution of scarce rental properties,” he says. In that respect he calls the experiment ‘successful’.
Whether the municipalities will continue to do this in the coming years is not clear. After the summer, a possible follow -up to this experiment will be looked at.