Plan for up to 260,000 new homes by splitting up existing ones, building extra floors

Minister Hugo de Jonge of Housing thinks he can create between 80,000 and 260,000 extra homes by splitting up existing homes, building additional floors on existing buildings, transforming vacant offices and factories, and making it easier to build tiny or micro-homes in the backyard. He also wants to look at making house sharing less complicated, NOS reports.

“Especially now that new construction is having a more difficult time, we must make the best possible use of the existing housing stock in order to create as much living space as possible,” De Jonge wrote to parliament.

The Housing Minister still wants to add 900,000 homes to the housing stock by 2031, but achieving that target has proven even more challenging than expected. Due to the nitrogen problem, construction has to slow down. Rising interest rates make investors hesitant, and rising construction costs make newly built homes increasingly unaffordable. The Minister also has a harder time than expected finding places to put prefabricated temporary homes.

The practice of making better use of the existing housing stock is also proving complicated, De Jonge said in his letter. Building extra floors, often called top-ups, is a good way to add homes to a building. But municipalities and locals often fight the process.

Top-ups can also mean building additional homes on the same lot. De Jonge is mainly thinking of the latter variant. He believes 100,000 homes can be achieved in this way, especially at corporation homes built after 1965. He will talk to municipalities and housing corporations about more flexible rules.

De Jonge also wants to make it easier to divide existing homes, especially in the big cities. He thinks he can create 80,000 to 160,000 new homes in this way. And outside the Randstad, he is looking into making it easier to build tiny homes in the backyard. According to the Minister, many people want to provide accommodation for their parents or children in this way, but existing regulations make municipalities reluctant to approve such proposals.