News item | 04-12-2025 | 12:16
Municipalities will receive a total of approximately €150 million for the construction of more than 16.5 thousand homes. Mona Keijzer, Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning, made this today in a letter to Parliament known. With the allocation of resources from three financial schemes, projects throughout the Netherlands are being launched that would otherwise not be feasible. In this way, home seekers, and in particular students and other attention groups, gain insight into affordable housing more quickly.
Applications from municipalities for the construction of more than 16.5 thousand homes have been granted. They receive contributions from the Housing Development Impulse (Wbi), the Housing Scheme for Attention Groups (RHA), and for affordable housing specifically in the Eindhoven region from the Housing Acceleration of the Eindhoven Metropolitan Region (WMRE).
“Municipalities continue to come up with good proposals for housing projects. Also for groups that need our special attention, such as students and the homeless. And the municipalities in the Eindhoven region, which are making joint efforts to meet the high demand for housing there, have also submitted many good proposals. That is good news for home seekers“, says Keijzer.
In collaboration with the Province of North Brabant, ASML and 21 municipalities, the government has made resources available for housing construction in the Eindhoven Metropolitan Region. Additional housing construction in this region is necessary to facilitate economic growth. In this first tranche of the WMRE, 5 municipalities will together receive €22.2 million for the construction of 1,700 homes.
Fifteen municipalities receive Wbi for the construction of 6,712 homes
With the Wbi, the government has been supporting municipalities since 2020 in the construction of more affordable housing. Under the Wbi, the government covers a maximum of 50% of the public costs incurred by municipalities in housing projects. Applications are assessed by the independent Housing Development Impulse Assessment Committee, after which it provides advice to the Minister.
In this seventh round, 16 applications will be honored in 14 municipalities and 1 city region, together accounting for 6,712 homes. Of this, 76% is affordable. Municipalities receive a total of €48.7 million in contributions from the Wbi. The average contribution per home in the projects that receive Wbi is more than €9,000. €120 million was available for this round. The total amount for which municipalities submitted applications was €66 million.
Since the first tranche in 2020, more than 230,000 homes have started receiving a contribution from the Wbi, of which 68% are affordable. The scheme will return in a renewed form in 2026. In addition to the Realization Incentive, a fixed contribution of €7,000 per affordable home for which construction has started, the Wbi is intended for complex projects that can only get off the ground with additional investments.
RHA for students far exceeded, awarded a total of €74.3 million
In this tranche of the Housing Scheme for Focus Groups, €60 million was available, of which €30 million for the realization of (non-self-contained) student housing. So many good applications were received for this last category that it was decided to increase the budget from €30 million to €49 million. For the regular RHA, applications for a total of €25.3 million will be honored.
A total of 80 projects will be supported by the RHA in this round, with a total contribution of €74.3 million. This will allow the construction of 8,251 new homes to get off the ground. Of these, 5,446 are for students and 2,805 homes for other attention groups.
With the RHA, the government supports municipalities in the construction of affordable rental housing for special interest groups; people with specific housing needs who are in a vulnerable position and therefore need guidance and support. The RHA in its current form ends with this last tranche and will be absorbed into the Realization Incentive.