Housing associations get stuck: too little building land, the land that is there is too expensive | living

And as a result, new construction plans of these corporations are jeopardized and the long waiting times for social rental homes threaten to continue, warns Aedes.

Housing associations will have to build many more homes in the coming years. In addition to social rental housing, this concerns flexible housing or houses in the mid-term rent. But there is not enough building land available, say two thirds of the housing associations. In their view, municipalities make too little land available. “Corporations have become increasingly dependent on the benevolence of municipalities,” said Aedes.

According to Aedes, land ownership by corporations has declined in recent years. A quarter of the housing associations have not even acquired any land in the last five years. This is due to the jumble of requirements surrounding land purchases, Aedes says, which unnecessarily hinders housing production.

Municipalities do not own that much building land at all, counters the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG). “Most of the land belongs to private individuals and investors, and they usually ask a (high) market price for the land,” says a spokesperson. VNG believes that this five-year rule should be dropped.

What now? Aedes argues for ‘transparent calculation methods for realistic land prices for social housing.’ There are major differences in whether a corporation buys from a municipality or from a real estate party. And according to Aedes, the average land price has increased by 21 percent in the past five years. For some corporations, this increase is even more detrimental to others.

According to VNG, municipalities already have a clear way to determine prices. This is the so-called ‘residual land price method’. This is calculated by deducting the expected market value of the real estate to be built with all the costs of setting up a construction project. “In short: for the municipalities, the price of the house to be built determines the land value, and not the other way around.”

Corporations face a lot of work in the coming years. Twice as many social housing must be built, the rent for the lowest incomes must be reduced and more than 675,000 homes must also be made more sustainable, housing minister Hugo de Jonge recently agreed with corporations, municipalities and the Woonbond.

There will, however, be more financial room to do those jobs. As of 2023, the corporations will be released from the landlord levy, a major millstone around the neck of many housing associations. This autumn it should be made easier for municipalities, through a bill, to build more social housing, even if the building land does not belong to the municipality.