Next gov't needs to invest billions into home construction, Interior Min. said

The next Dutch Cabinet must invest 20 billion euros on housing and infrastructure projects, Interior Minister Kajsa Ollongren said in a letter to Parliament. Without that contribution from the government, construction will be "insufficient and at a slower pace," than planned, she stated according to NOS.

Moreover, newly built homes will become even less affordable according to Ollongren. Ollongren based her letter on a study concerning more than 440,000 homes in the largest Dutch cities. About half of them can be completed by 2030.

The State should also help with major infrastructure projects such as extending the Amsterdam metro line to Schiphol, the Minister stated. Further contributions are also necessary for the IJmeer connection between Almere and Amsterdam, and a new train station in Groningen.

The fourteen projects that have been researched are "all complex, large-scale area developments, mostly inner-city, some extra-urban", wrote Ollongren. Most of the costs, 109 of the 142 billion euros, are covered by private lenders. Research previously showed that provinces and municipalities lack approximately 13.7 billion euros to build enough in the coming years.

Last year, a report from the Ministry of the Interior showed that 845,000 new homes will have to be built over the next ten years to prevent the housing shortage from escalating further.

Previous research showed that companies looking to enter into construction projects in Amsterdam now spend eight percent more than in 2020. The increase put the Dutch capital at 43rd most expensive for construction out of 100 cities globally.