The previous cabinet made an amount of 1 billion euros available in 2019 to do something about the acute housing shortage. The money was intended for municipalities that had plans that were at an advanced stage. These had to be plans that were not yet financially complete at that time, for example because companies had to be bought out. It was also the intention that it was mainly used to realize affordable houses.
Despite
In recent years, the money has ended up in 92 projects spread across the country. The then Minister of the Interior Kajsa Ollongren proudly noted that it had succeeded in realizing almost 140,000 houses faster. In addition, she stated that 65 percent of these fall into the affordable category: social housing, mid-term rental housing and cheap owner-occupied housing.
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However, the Court of Auditors states that it is highly questionable whether the billion has been well spent. According to Ewout Irrgang of the Court of Audit, it has not been demonstrated that the projects would not have been completed without central government funding.
According to him, it is also completely unclear whether the government support will build even one extra house. He points out that there is a good chance that there will be displacement. That is, the construction plans with the aid were given priority, which may have delayed other projects.
In addition, according to the Court of Audit, there is insufficient guarantee that cheap mid-rental housing will remain affordable in the future. The same goes for cheap owner-occupied homes. According to Irrgang, no agreements have been made about this.
Continue
The Court of Audit’s investigation is relevant because the current government wants to continue the housing construction impulse. According to Irrgang, there is now no analysis that indicates what the problem is and why it makes sense to invest a lot of money in municipal projects.
He also advises Minister Hugo de Jonge for Housing and Spatial Planning to look closely at the danger of displacement, although, according to Irrgang, this is difficult to overcome with the current shortages of construction workers and materials.
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Minister De Jonge says in a response that he does not intend to stop the housing impulse: according to De Jonge, municipalities indicate that they can build more and faster with the government money.
De Jonge wants to avoid crowding out other building plans by making firm agreements with municipalities and provinces about housing. He previously announced that he wants to ensure that affordable mid-rental housing also remains affordable. Residents will soon have the opportunity to go to the rent committee if landlords suddenly start asking usurious rents.
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