Over 900,000 additional houses in The Netherlands in eight years
This month, the Dutch government published its plans to tackle the housing market problems. One of the main and specific initiatives is the Programma Woningbouw (the national housing programme). This programme describes the agreements made between the government and the separate provinces about the number and the locations of the additional houses that will have to be realised. The initiative heralds the end of the time during which housing predominantly was the responsibility of the provinces and municipalities. So what do these agreements imply and where are these houses in the Netherlands going to be built?
Programma Woningbouw – the Housing Programme
Over the next eight years, all provinces are going to build additional houses. Earlier this year, the cabinet already appointed locations where this large-scale housing programme should be realised. The Programma Woningbouw describes how and where the 900,000 additional houses in The Netherlands will be distributed, and one of the notable aspects is that the scale of the planned housing in the provinces including the Randstad area far exceeds the number of houses to be built in the northern and southern provinces. Below, you can find an overview of the figures and provinces where most of the additional housing is planned.
Contrary to these figures, the provinces of Zeeland (16,500), Friesland (17,500), and Drenthe (13,631) are supposed to provide a rather modest number of additional housing. And this surely adds to the burden of the already highly urbanised part of the Netherlands.
It is unrealistic to expect that a province like Zuid-Holland will be able to build the allocated 235,000 additional houses within the current municipal borders. This programme, as it stands now, will result in a shortage of suitable housing locations.
What type of housing will be built?
The government uses this initiative to, once again, take back control of public housing. So what type of housing do they actually plan for?
One of the main issues that the Dutch housing market is dealing with is the shortage of social housing, which is what these plans focus on in particular. The government and the provinces have agreed that a total of 230,000 social rental homes are to be built up to 2030. Furthermore, the government has stipulated that municipalities need to aim to maintain 30% of their housing capacity as social housing.
And besides that, the Programma Woningbouw demands that two-thirds of the more than 900,000 additional houses in The Netherlands must be “affordable”, which not only includes social housing but also rental home in the mid-price range with a rent of no more than €1,000 per month. This category also includes owner-occupied houses up to €350,000, which is this year’s maximum eligibility amount for the National Mortgage Guarantee Scheme (NHG).
The plans are certainly ambitious. Still, they also raise the question of how, apart from the shortage of available locations, they are to be realised with the substantial increase in costs for construction materials and interest rates.
Source
- Rijksoverheid.nl: Nationale woningbouwkaart: https: //www.rijksoverheid.nl/ documenten/ kaarten/ 2021/06/09/ nationale woningbouwkaart
- Rijksoverheid.nl: Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken: https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/ ministeries/ ministerie van binnenlandse zaken en koninkrijksrelaties/nieuws/2022/10/13/minister hugo de jonge maakt provinciale woningbouwafspraken voor 900.000 nieuwe woningen
