News item | 15-12-2023 | 13:58
Of the movable homes purchased by the Central Government Real Estate Agency (RVB) through a tender, 95% have been sold. This concerns 1902 homes.
Discussions are ongoing and there are candidates for the remaining 90 homes. Minister Hugo de Jonge of the Interior and Kingdom Relations informed the House of Representatives of this today in a letter in which he provides further information on the Acceleration of Temporary Housing programme. The homes are used by municipalities and corporations to house attention groups such as starters, students, status holders and divorced people.
Purpose of the tender
In order to, on the one hand, increase the production capacity of builders and give them certainty about purchases and, on the other hand, to break the traditional project sequence of planning, decision-making, granting permits and then ordering, the RVB has purchased 1,992 flexible homes in 42 plots. The tender by the RVB has led to construction movement. It is more difficult to say whether the goal of ‘reversing the process’ has been achieved. As indicated above, almost all of the homes have been sold, with the latest sprint being precisely because municipalities were looking for speed; this concerns homes that are already in stock. Although the pace is not what we expected, if all homes are occupied in 2024, the completion will still be 4 to 5 times faster than with regular construction. So in that sense it is a success.
Five cities make locations available for relocating portable homes
The government has concluded cooperation agreements with five municipalities in the context of the physical relocation guarantee. The concept of the physical relocation guarantee accelerates the construction process in the country on both sides. Firstly, this happens at the very beginning, when projects are started. Nowadays people often wait until any objection and appeal procedures have been resolved before purchasing the homes. The physical relocation guarantee now provides certainty that the homes can be placed if the original location is no longer available due to the outcome of the procedure. Secondly, these locations are used to house portable homes for which no location has been found in the country after a previous placement.
The advantage for the municipalities is that they can initiate new area and housing development with modular construction and facilities (shops, schools, recreation). At the same time, they keep space free for the installation of movable homes at a later time. This allows them to also serve as host municipalities for existing homes from other parts of the country and create additional living space for their residents. The intention is that these neighborhoods are easily adaptable in terms of the number of homes, so that construction can take place more quickly. The municipalities receive a financial contribution for keeping the land available and building the permanent core. These five collaboration agreements create 1,360 guaranteed plots for movable homes and contribute to the construction of 1,890 modular homes in the permanent core.