Municipalities forced to make housing plans for homeless, ex-patients

Municipalities are being forced to draw up an emergency plan to prioritize certain target groups such as the homeless and ex-patients when allocating housing. If municipalities fail to do so, the Ministry of Internal Affairs will determine the percentage of homes that municipalities must make available for these groups.

The plan also includes ex-prisoners, people who leave a care institution, or people who urgently need a home for medical or social reasons. All municipalities must draw up a housing- or emergency ordinance for all focus groups, and for the elderly. This is stated in the program ‘A Home for Everyone’ that Minister for Housing Hugo de Jonge has sent to the Tweede Kamer on behalf of a large number of other ministries.

In addition to the mandatory emergency ordinance with which municipalities can assign priority housing to vulnerable residents, municipalities must also draw up a residential care vision. This should make the housing needs clear, which must then be translated into a concrete housing program. The realization of this plan will be monitored by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Kingdom Relations.

If municipalities fail to do so, the Minister for Housing will set a standard for the allocation of homes to specific attention groups. This will be included in the bill ‘Strengthening the direction of public housing’.

"Living space is a key necessity of life. This certainly applies to people in a vulnerable position who have to rebuild their lives. For people who need extra support, we as a government will have to make a special effort," De Jonge writes to the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament.