It is not there yet, but it will sound like music to the ears of many Amstelveen starters: renting an affordable home and at the same time building up capital to buy a home. Projects are already underway in Almere, Rotterdam and Amsterdam and next week the Amstelveen council will also debate the innovation construction.
In the run-up to next week’s council debate, the initiative was already discussed during the council meeting yesterday. CoKopen director Hieke Bakker was invited for an explanation.
In municipalities with Cokoop going into the sea, CoKopen is building a new-build project with apartments in the middle segment. Interested parties can then register for the apartments between 45 and 85 square meters with the municipality, which determines who can compete based on an income test, for example. This will concern households with an income of 45,000 to 67,000 euros.
Income-dependent rent
The final tenants pay a (income-related) rent of between 875 and 1200 euros per month. Part of this is safely invested or invested by CoKopen, resulting in a return. That return is then used to give tenants a severance premium.
This not only promotes the flow on the housing market, but tenants also have a nice pocket money as starting capital for financing a home. It is mainly the starters who are now falling between two stools, CoKopen director Hieke Bakker emphasized yesterday during the council meeting.
Many low-income home seekers are forced to rent a (too expensive) home in the private sector. This is called skewed living and is also a major problem in Amstelveen: 10 percent of low-income earners and 18 percent of middle-income earners are forced to rent in the private sector.
Those who want to claim the severance premium must rent for at least three years. After seven years, the severance premium no longer increases. Those who leave after three years can already receive an amount of 5,000 euros with this construction, those who move after seven years or longer can receive an amount of up to 25,000 euros. For a starter on the buyer’s market, where a substantial personal contribution is often required, this is a considerable financial boost, or so the idea goes.
To further encourage people not to stick around longer than necessary, an annual income-related contribution is requested. “And that also depends on income,” CoKopen director Bakker explained to the council members during the council meeting yesterday.
“Our director didn’t believe it at first either”
“In principle, you can live there as long as you want,” continues Cokopen director Bakker. “We try to make it tempting to move on to the next home.”
But doesn’t this all sound too good to be true? Director Bakker also thought this before she had it calculated, revealed CoKopen initiator Bart Hartman in an interview last month. interview on Radio 1. “We have had a director since January 1, who comes from the large housing corporation Ymere, and she didn’t believe it at first either. But we had everything calculated […] And they found: it works.”
To combat skewed housing, it has been agreed that two-thirds of all homes in Amstelveen must be built in the affordable segment. This means that 20 percent of all homes are built in the social segment and about 46 percent in the middle segment.
The municipalities where CoKopen has been active so far have their own land that can be used for housing. This applies to a much lesser extent to Amstelveen, where the organization will therefore have to buy land from other owners. That may drive up the price, was a critical note during last night’s council meeting.
The Scheg
VORM knows everything about rising prices and construction projects that do not get off the ground. The developer of the Amstelveen new housing estate De Scheg would also be present yesterday, but failed to do so. Recently, the developer requested the municipality revoke the previously granted permit because of the disappointing pre-sale and growing concerns about financial feasibility
The request to withdraw the permit has now also been withdrawn, because VORM believes that the project is financially feasible in an adapted and phased form. The project developer remains silent for the time being about the exact details of the amended plans.
Meanwhile, the demand for affordable homes in Amstelveen is also growing, which puts many home seekers at a disadvantage. She and others can speak on this and other housing topics on Tuesday during a theme evening of the municipality in the Annakerk, where the housing vision for the coming years is explained.
Objections
Within five weeks more will be known about some objections that have been submitted against the building plans in the Scheg. One of those objections has been submitted for VORM itself, with which the developer hopes to prevent the permit from becoming final and the company having to start building.