Housing minister aims to ‘take back control’ of residential building

New housing in Amsterdam’s western harbour area. Photo: DutchNews.nl

Housing minister Hugo de Jonge has published plans which will require every local authority in the country to make sure 30% of all housing in their area is rent controlled.

The proposal is one of a package of measures aimed at giving central government more say in residential property development, in an effort to ensure that 900,000 new homes are built by 2030.

‘For too long we thought that local decisions would automatically provide a solution to the housing shortage but that is not the case,’ De Jonge said. ‘That is why we must restore public housing and take back control. This legislation will make sure governments have the right tools to manage how much, where and for whom we build.’

The legislation will give central government more control over allocating building land and to force local authorities to act if they fail to reach agreements. It also seeks to ensure two-thirds of new housing is classed as affordable – either rent controlled, mid-market rentals (up to around €1,100 per month) or for sale at affordable prices.

Criticism

VVD MPs have criticised some aspects of the proposal, even though they are in a coalition with De Jonge’s CDA. In particular, they say, there is too much social housing in some areas and more needs to be done to built affordable housing for middle income households.

The plans have now been put out to consultation for six weeks and De Jonge said he hoped the legislation would come into effect at the beginning of next year.

In January De Jonge published plans to speed up the construction of new housing, partly by limiting the right of appeal against new developments. It currently takes an average of 10 years from the start of the process to completion but this can be speeded up by removing red tape and combining processes, De Jonge said.