Leading construction company urges not just to focus on affordable housing

Municipalities should not only focus on building affordable housing to address the housing shortage in the Netherlands. Because building housing in a slightly more expensive segment will get the flow going. "Ultimately, this helps first home buyers," said the chairman of Bouwend Nederland Arno Visser on Sunday on the TV program WNL op Zondag.

The chairman of the construction industry organization sees that many first-time buyers do not immediately move into a newly built house. Instead, he believes that at least 85 percent of them live in an existing house. "The task in the Netherlands is therefore to free up as many existing homes as possible," says Visser. To trigger as many moves as possible. He believes that there could be 400 relocations for every 100 new homes built.

Visser said that this is not currently happening because municipalities and provinces, which he believes should be the first to act, are "at odds". They cannot agree on where and how many houses can and cannot be built. Stricter requirements are also being imposed. For example, the province of Zuid-Holland has decided that 40 percent of the houses to be built must be affordable, while the national target is 30 percent.

The chairman also believes that Minister Hugo de Jonge makes "too little" use of his authority to unlock the housing market. "He has to make the decision if municipalities and provinces cannot reach an agreement, “ he said on the TV program.

Voorzitter @BouwendNL Arno Visser (@BNLvoorzitter) vindt dat minister Hugo de Jonge "te weinig" gebruikmaakt van zijn bevoegdheid om de woningmarkt van het slot te krijgen. "Hij moet de knoop doorhakken als gemeentes en provincies er niet uitkomen." #WNL pic.twitter.com/kPB6wCKqlM

— WNL Op Zondag (@WNLOpZondag) February 11, 2024

"And that's how things get locked up," said Visser. This is because building affordable housing is not always sufficiently profitable for developers. Visser therefore advocates looking at what is possible in the short term. And to pursue a better throughput: for every new home built, there are four relocations. "These can be senior apartments, they can be middle class or they can be upper middle class. Creating momentum. Then those hundred newly built homes will have helped a lot of people, including first-time buyers."