People from Brabant who are unable to find a home due to the housing crisis are living on hiatus. That description comes from Bas Sievers, director of housing corporation Woonpartners from Helmond. “Whether it concerns a starter who would like a family, or the elderly who cannot leave a house that they find too big… in all cases they cannot move on with their lives.”
Sievers is director of housing corporation Woonpartners from Helmond. Together with twelve colleagues, he wrote a pamphlet for all those new local politicians who will be elected in the council elections on 16 March.
The corporations from the Eindhoven area want to build six thousand houses by 2026, in close collaboration with the 21 municipalities in their area of work. “It is possible if the municipalities work closely with us. As housing associations, we are the ideal ally for municipalities.”
A house for the children
A house for their children. That is what many people from Brabant are concerned about. Housing is high on the lists of topics for the council elections on March 16. But can local politicians solve such a tough problem?
“An emergency”, the Eindhoven real estate agent Debbie Mels describes the housing market. Debbie is chairman of 170 NVM brokers in Southeast Brabant. According to her, the municipalities are important in finding a solution, but the government must be behind the rags. “The municipalities have had time, but too little has happened.”
There are eight million houses in the Netherlands. Because the population is growing and because households are getting smaller, there are not enough of them. It is estimated that in 2024 the Netherlands will be more than 300,000 houses short. House prices are rising and people with a small budget are especially excluded. “Forty buyers are signing up for a four-ton house,” says Mels. “You can’t schedule that many viewings anymore. This is bad for everyone.”
The new Minister of Housing Hugo de Jonge wants to build 100,000 homes a year. A big task; in recent years, the Netherlands did not exceed 60,000. Brabant has 30,000 houses short. The province wants to build between 12,000 and 14,000 houses per year and has been reasonably successful in this in recent years.
Build more and faster
To achieve such numbers, more needs to be built, but also faster. A contractor can build a new house in barely a year, but due to all the procedures that go into building it, it takes six to nine years for construction to begin.
That is why Bas Sievers is going to work with WoonST. Standardized homes that are mostly built in the factory. Sievers: “When a car manufacturer comes up with a new model, it is inspected once by the Rijksdienst voor het Wegverkeer and then you can drive it anywhere. WoonST-homes should work the same. That can shorten some of the procedures considerably. We are working on a project and now think that these houses can be completed in two-and-a-half years. That is profit.”
Insecurity
Erik Leijten is director South at project developer BPD, which builds a thousand homes per year in Brabant. “And my assignment is to make 1500 of them”.
He doubts whether Brabant (and the Netherlands) will achieve the building targets in the coming years. “There is a lot of uncertainty. Think of the nitrogen crisis and the rules for PFAS-contaminated soil. That uncertainty leads to long procedures.”
“We are a country with many rules. It takes experience to deal with all those rules. Between 2008 and 2014, much of that knowledge disappeared due to the financial crisis. At that time, many professionals disappeared from the construction industry, but also many people who had knowledge of complicated construction processes.”
syrupy
“It’s going to be syrupy,” says Bas Sievers. “During the financial crisis, the entire process has come to a standstill. It’s a big ship that needs to get going again.”
Erik Leijten: “If we want to build, there must be direction. A lot has to be coordinated. We want more houses, but also more nature, farmers have ideas for their land, land is needed for windmills and solar parks and we need to develop climate-proof cities. At the same time, all the land is already occupied. Then someone has to dare to make decisions, show leadership! If municipalities do not do this, the government must designate construction sites.”
Mels says the same: “It is no longer a housing crisis, but a pure housing shortage. The non-commitment has to end. Having a Minister for Housing again is a good first step. He has to make policy and I like a little coercion.”