New housing construction way below Cabinet targets; Plans for 130K homes in Brabant

Eight of the 12 Dutch provinces are hopelessly behind in achieving their targets for housing construction, according to research by the Economic Institute for Construction (EIB). Zuid-Holland, Noord-Holland, Utrecht, and Gelderland are the furthest behind, missing their 2021 target by thousands of homes, RTL Nieuws reports. On Friday, the Cabinet announced plans to build 130,000 homes in Noord-Brabant by 2030.

According to the EIB, Zuid-Holland faces the biggest backlog in housing construction, at least in absolute numbers. The Cabinet wants the province to build over 26,000 homes per year. In 2021, the province achieved over 16,000 new homes. Noord-Holland managed around 17,000 new homes in 2021, also well below the Cabinet’s 22,000 target for the province.

The provinces of Utrecht, Flevoland, and Gelderland are also running behind. Overijssel, Zeeland, and Noord-Brabant missed their targets to a lesser extent. Groningen, Friesland, Drenthe, and Limburg built more homes than the government targets.

The national government wants 100,000 new homes built yearly to solve the housing shortage. According to the EIB, part of the reason the Randstad is having more trouble achieving its targets than other provinces is that a third of the newly built homes must be affordable. Building affordable homes is more complicated in the Randstad than in Groningen or Drenthe, for example, because Randstad home prices are much higher.

130,600 homes in Noord-Brabant

On Friday, Minister Hugo de Jonge for Housing and Spatial Planning announced that he, the province of Noord-Brabant, its 56 municipalities, and 38 housing corporations signed four regional housing construction deals. The goal is to build over 130,600 homes in the province by 2030. “A major ambition that is achievable thanks to the involvement of municipalities, corporations, and market parties. With these homes, we keep the villages and towns in Brabant liveable,” De Jonge said.

The housing deals specify how many homes will be constructed in each region and municipality. Two-thirds of new construction will be affordable homes, and 40 percent will target middle incomes. Municipalities with less than 30 percent affordable homes will reach that target with the new construction, while municipalities that have already reached that target will focus more on middle-segment homes.