News item | 31-01-2023 | 10:05
The first step towards 900,000 homes in 2030 has been taken. Statistics Netherlands reports today that the number of new homes in 2022 will be more than 74,000. In addition, the ministry takes into account another 10,000 homes from transformation, for example offices and shops that have been converted into homes. This puts the total at 84,000 new homes.
Minister De Jonge: “With more than 80,000 homes, the first step has been taken towards the 900,000 new homes that we must realize up to and including 2030. But the economic situation has changed. Since the war in Ukraine, construction costs have risen, interest rates have risen and uncertainty has increased. While the housing shortage remains high and the population is growing rapidly, our task is therefore becoming more difficult. But the bar cannot be lowered. Circumstances are not a license to say, ‘Then don’t’. It is precisely the task for all of us to think ‘How?’.
Accelerate housing construction
With the Residential Building programme, everything is being done to build more affordable homes with more direction, at a faster pace. After the first successfully concluded housing deals in Overijssel and Drenthe, regional housing deals will be signed throughout the Netherlands in the coming period. The national government, provinces, municipalities and corporations make agreements about the number of homes, the location and for which groups the building will be built. Clarity about the locations in particular is crucial here, as this makes the plans concrete and ensures that corporations and market parties can get started with the realization.
In addition, we are looking closely at how housing construction can be further accelerated. For example, by bringing construction plans forward, by setting up procedures more optimally and by making agreements on how we can continue to build together in uncertain times. This concerns both inner-city and extra-urban locations. We must deploy all appropriate locations. Furthermore, house seekers must be given a firmer position within the decision-making process in order to break through the ‘Not in my backyard’ culture.
Through support from the Residential Building Impulse, the transformation facility and the 7.5 billion euros from the MIRT for opening up large-scale housing and the abolition of the Landlord Levy, the government is also making the realization of (more) affordable homes financially possible.
10,000 homes through transformations
In addition to new construction, homes are also being added through the transformation of offices, vacant retail properties and former factory sites into homes. This produces an average of 10,000 homes per year, which will be included in the total number of new homes in 2022. Because processing these figures requires more time, the exact number of transformations is expected to follow in November.
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