D66 member Reinier van Dantzig has been alderman for Housing in Amsterdam for just over a year and a half. The man who promised thousands of homes at election time is in the middle of a construction crisis. ‘If I were a councilor now, I would hit the councilor with those 9,000 promised homes.’
Tim WagemakersDecember 31, 2023, 7:12 am
It is the end of September and on a drizzly construction site near Sloterdijk station, Reinier van Dantzig is standing behind a laminated sign, wearing a construction helmet. The D66 Housing Councilor has just announced dramatic figures. Three-quarters of the way through the year, 2,400 homes have been under construction, while the target is 7,500 homes. Of the 3,000 intended mid-priced rental and owner-occupied homes, 211 have been put under construction.
Van Dantzig keeps his courage up. Together with builders, investors and corporations, he presents a ‘continued construction agreement’, in which they promise to do everything they can to ensure that the construction of affordable homes does not come to a standstill.
While everyone puts their signature on the board, Van Dantzig says he will drag the houses through one by one. A camera crew records everything. These are nice words, but what do they mean? Het Parool followed the alderman in the autumn, looking for the ‘Van Dantzig method’.
Extra espresso
“I had to pour extra espresso when I read it.” It is two weeks later, October 16, and the weekly staff meeting with his team is in Van Dantzig’s office. Rising costs have created a deficit of 22 million euros at a construction project in Holendrecht.
The atmosphere is friendly, but businesslike. The meetings are held at a fast pace and Van Dantzig is not one for enormous reflections. Give him concrete dilemmas instead of long presentations. And so a map of the project is put on the table.
“Can’t there be a layer of housing on top?” asks Van Dantzig. “Has that expensive underground parking garage been canceled yet?” Everything is negotiable for him, as long as the size of the affordable homes remains the same.
And on to the ‘comfort boxes’, a ventilation system that allows fresh outside air to enter the home and at the same time dampens outside noise. There are objections to it: it would not help enough to curb noise pollution. At the same time, it is the solution to get 63 homes built quickly. Van Dantzig listens and decides: “I find it acceptable this time.”
Ambitions under pressure
There are hardly any days when Van Dantzig can sit back, every construction project is currently a challenge. He had seen it differently when, as party leader of D66, he criticized former SP councilor Laurens Ivens during the election campaign. Ivens was ‘better at sending press releases than driving posts’, had a ‘village mentality’ and was ‘too hard’ on project developers.
Van Dantzig promised that 9,000 homes would be built annually. In the coalition agreement, this ultimately became 7,500. Shortly after taking office, he said that due to rising costs on all sides, that ambition will more often than not be achieved in the coming years. This year, uncertainty about national policy made builders cautious.
Van Dantzig knows that if he had been a councilor now, he would ‘hit the alderman around the ears’ with those 9,000 promised homes. It was also clear during election time that construction costs would rise. But he is convinced that his proposed course at the time – more simplification and relaxation – is the reason that construction has not come to a complete standstill.
Because yes, sustainability is important, but Amsterdam does not have to demand more than what is required nationally. And the procedures could be a bit faster on the municipal side. Van Dantzig’s line is clear: construction must not come to a standstill.
A set of rules of thumb
Developers are needed for that. On November 1, Van Dantzig shakes hands at the Tolhuistuin in Noord. Two hundred investors, project developers, civil servants and corporation employees will go on an excursion with the councilor in large tour buses.
A little later the group stands around a model in a small room near Buikslotermeerplein. “From a place to buy it must become a place to be,” says an architect. “The great thing is,” said an official, “you can register to participate.”
Small disclaimer: there are some rules of thumb. “A little more than we thought,” the official says, laughing, while holding up a document. An investor snorts. His neighbor: “A whole circus is being set up, and then you are hardly allowed to do anything.”
It is not an image that makes Van Dantzig happy. He wants to convey that the municipality is simplifying and relaxing. Once back in the Tolhuistuin, he emphasizes this in the ‘Van Dantzig dialogue’: a panel discussion with corporations and investors.
“It just has to be right,” he says. There are rules, but if things get out of hand, people should approach him. Afterwards, an investor receives a slap on the back: “Hey guy, can we figure it out together?”
‘Good and cozy’
It suits Van Dantzig’s driving style. Informal, jovial, someone who knows the city well and speaks ‘the language’ of market parties. Internally, the councilor encourages civil servants to come up with plans, even if they are risky.
“He has something restless and wants to get to the content quickly,” says an official from his team. “And he has strong opinions. But then he gives a lot of space and support for the things you do.”
They call Van Dantzig someone with a love for housing construction, who, as an economist, enjoys talking about figures and budgets. His pragmatism means that work can be done quickly, while in the past administrators sometimes had to wait a long time to complete a file.
That also entails risks, says an official. “You have to say more often: are you sure about this? Is it covered properly?” And a typical Van Dantzig statement such as ‘just good and pleasant’ needs more interpretation, according to another official. “That is the conversation we are having now: what is that? A bench in the park? A nightclub?”
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Supporters of more greenery in the city came to the Stopera on December 7 to protest against the greenery that is disappearing due to the expansion of homes and businesses in the city. Image Dingena Mol
Lip service to the market
Van Dantzig has a background as an entrepreneur; before becoming alderman, he managed three catering businesses in addition to his council work. Where market parties recognize someone from the same blood group, it causes resistance in other places.
Take residents’ collective Red Amsterdam Noord, where Van Dantzig comes for coffee in mid-November. They fear that there will be hardly any greenery in the area development near Buikslotermeerplein. Van Dantzig listens and promises to do his best within the possibilities available.
Afterwards, not all concerns were dispelled, says Sylvia Fennis, who was present. “I see that his attitude is different than a year ago when he came over. He listens more. But will he do anything with it? I haven’t seen that yet.”
Left-wing opposition parties also follow the councilor critically. The coalition agreement stipulates that each housing project will consist of 40 percent social rental, 40 percent mid-range rental or owner-occupied and 20 percent private sector. There are sometimes deviations from this, but according to SP faction leader Remine Alberts, Van Dantzig is a little too willing to push the buttons. She calls his temporary crisis measure, in which the municipality wants to lower the land price for some projects, ‘lip service to the market’. “If things are going well for the builders and they are making big profits, you don’t hear them, and if things are not going well, the municipality can pay.”
Van Dantzig thinks that is too easy. No, he is not a social democrat, but a D66 member. There is still a lot to ask of developers and he really pushes back when he thinks they are whining. He supports the 40-40-20 split, but the world will not end if it is sometimes deviated from. It is a crisis, construction has to start.
No councilor school
Van Dantzig is not losing sleep over the construction crisis, but the work is tough. “There is no councilor school,” he says. Every now and then he talks to an external coach, on his own initiative. To sounding boards with someone outside politics.
And otherwise there is always his father: Reinier van Dantzig senior, the well-known former physiotherapist of Ajax. His parents watch all his media appearances and the city council livestream. It means that after a long day the phone sometimes rings. “Reinier, you talked too fast! I didn’t understand a thing!” It makes him laugh and feels supported.
Van Dantzig enjoys his job and says he can put adversity into perspective. If it were easy, everyone would have succeeded, he thinks. One day a week he tries not to open his laptop. To do something with his young son Moos. Or watch a series. No Buitenhof, certainly no Tegenlicht about the housing crisis.
Believe in neighborhoods
It is December 1 and the councilor is in Nieuw-West with Saida Anas and Asmae Kharmich from action group Wildeman. The Wildemanbuurt is notorious for its many moldy rental properties. There were renovation plans as early as 2007, but the financial crisis put a stop to that. Councilor Ivens announced a new plan in 2021, Van Dantzig from the council urged short-term action. Housing construction is ultimately a social project, he says. The show must go on, especially in areas such as Zuidoost, Nieuw-West and Noord.
Thanks to Anas and Kharmich, who knocked on all doors in recent years and spoke to local residents – often cynical about the municipality – a plan was subsequently drawn up that received broad approval. Demolition and new construction should finally begin in 2025.
Although there is a crisis again, Van Dantzig promises at the meeting with action group Wildeman that the project will be continued. Postponing it again would be the final blow to the residents’ already low confidence. Kharmich hugs him: “Thank you for keeping your word.”
“The belief in neighborhoods must grow that we as a municipality can solve problems,” he says a little later while cycling. “Especially when it comes to something like the quality of life in your neighborhood and your home.” Then he cycles fast. He’s late, the next appointment is waiting.
At the end of December he will announce the final housing construction figure for this year: not 7,500 but 5,200 homes.
Councilor Reinier van Dantzig at the Crossroads construction project at Sloterdijk station. Image Jakob van Vliet
About the author: Tim Wagemakers has been studying Amsterdam politics for almost 10 years and has been writing about it for Het Parool as a political reporter since 2022.
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2023-12-31 12:34:04
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