Amsterdam to spend more money on teacher homes, pedestrian bridge from Noord to Oost

The municipality of Amsterdam presented its Spring Memorandum on Thursday morning, an update to the city's annual budget and financial plans for the current year. Thanks to windfalls in the previous budget, the capital can increase spending to make the city more accessibility, with more room to spend on education and the energy transition.

The city plans to build a teachers' campus with affordable housing on IJburg. Around 80 reasonably priced homes will be built there "connect teachers to our city and education," said Hester van Buren, the alderman in charge of financial policy in the capital. One cause of the teacher shortage in the city is the difficulty people with a mid-level income have when searching for an affordable home in Amsterdam.

This is why Amsterdam is going to spend 15 million euros on the project. It is not yet clear how expensive the homes will be.

The municipality also thinks Amsterdam-Noord should be better connected to the rest of the city. The city plans to add 120 million euros to the budget for the Oostbrug, a new pedestrian and cycling bridge over the IJ River. The bridge will connect the Hamerkwartier neighborhood in Noord with Azartplein in Amsterdam-Oost.

The 120 million euros is on top of the 100 million euros earmerked for the project last year. The additional money will also allow for the creation of more roadways and paths to the Oostbrug.

The memorandum predicts that Amsterdam will need to expand energy grid capacity to transport three times as much power in 2050 as it does now. It says large investments are needed in the energy transition and the energy network to supply the current and future parts of the city with electricity.

Municipal organization Energie voor de Stad, which translates to Energy for the City, was started in October 2023 and will receive an extra 50 million euros to achieve the goals.

Another four million euros will go to other areas, like hiring and stafffing crews to keep the city clean. The social development company, Pantar, will be given six million euros to cover higher staff costs and to accommodate the reduced flexible deployment of employees.

A traineeship for people who just finished their higher vocational education (MBO) to gain experience inside the municipality will be extended. More money will also be assigned to security, surveillance and enforcement at large events.