The bill allowing municipalities to give priority to their own residents and/or special groups such as teachers and nurses when allocating homes has been sent to the House of Representatives. Minister Hugo de Jonge (Public Housing) hopes that the law can come into effect on January 1, 2023.
This concerns an amendment to the Housing Act of 2014. Now municipalities are allowed to allocate half of the vacant rental homes to people with an economic or social bond. A maximum of half of this may be allocated to residents of the municipality itself. The bill that has now been submitted will give municipalities the opportunity to determine for themselves who will be allocated the entire fifty percent of the vacant homes.
This can therefore be its own inhabitants, or a mix of its own inhabitants and people with a crucial profession, including agents.
Social housing
A new feature of the bill is that municipalities can also allocate social housing to their own residents and/or people with a crucial profession. This concerns homes up to the so-called NHG limit (National Mortgage Guarantee limit), which is now 355,000 euros. The NHG limit determines the maximum amount of a home for which a mortgage can be applied for.
Depending on how it is discussed in the House of Representatives and the Senate, the law will come into effect on January 1 or July 1, 2023.