Almere to remove all small asbestos roofs for free as national effort falters
The Dutch government’s attempt to rid the country of asbestos roofs has allegedly failed to gain traction, prompting the city of Almere to take the unprecedented step of paying to remove all small asbestos roofs within its borders, AD reports. The national cleanup effort, launched six years ago, has reportedly made little progress despite growing health concerns and a 9 million euros fund that has issued just twelve loans in two years.
Roughly 400,000 buildings in the Netherlands — including homes, sheds, and business properties — still have asbestos-containing roofs, totaling approximately 74 million square meters. More than 1,100 people die each year in the country from cancers linked to asbestos exposure.
In 2021, under the previous Rutte government, a special national fund was established to help low-income homeowners replace their asbestos roofs. The fund offered loans at interest rates between 2 and 2.5 percent, but uptake was almost nonexistent. According to a letter from Infrastructure and Water Management State Secretary Chris Jansen to the Tweede Kamer, the fund issued just twelve loans in its first two years, and most of the allocated money remained unused last year as well.
These results have led the Dutch government to overhaul the policy. The revised plan opens the loan scheme to all homeowners, not just low-income households. The national government will now cover half of the roof replacement costs, up from a quarter, with municipalities expected to contribute the rest. A large public awareness campaign is also underway to inform homeowners of the risks and available financial support.
David de Vreede, technical advisor at the Expertise Centrum Asbest & Vezels (ECAV), says the original loan scheme was filled with barriers. “You could only get a loan if your municipality participated. And applying was incredibly complicated — it only worked with help from a process supervisor,” he told AD.
De Vreede welcomed the expanded access to the fund but remained skeptical about its impact. “Removing the asbestos roof from a small shed is relatively affordable, but a full roof cleanup can cost 15,000 to 20,000 euros,” he said. “Many people would rather install a new kitchen than a new roof.” He noted that many of the affected homes are low-cost terraced houses that were once owned by housing corporations and later sold to residents to offload the problem.
Almere has opted for a more decisive approach. The city council recently approved a plan to fully cover the cost of removing asbestos roofs from 1,000 small structures like sheds and carports. “Residents won’t pay anything. By the end of 2026, all asbestos roofs on small buildings in Almere will be gone,” said De Vreede, who is also a Socialist Party councilor in the city. The initiative will cost 2.2 million euros. Additional subsidies are reportedly available for replacing asbestos roofs on 100 to 150 homes.
A planned ban on asbestos roofs was scrapped in 2022 after pushback in the Eerste Kamer, including from housing corporations. What remains is only a voluntary government “ambition” to remove all asbestos roofs by 2030. “There is no political will,” De Vreede told AD. “It won’t happen without money and government leadership.”
He also warned of dangers on farms, where many old asbestos roofs remain. A previous 75 million euros subsidy program was depleted quickly in 2016. Many roofs have already surpassed their expected lifespan and are no longer insurable. “Moss is growing on them, and the material deteriorates, releasing large quantities of asbestos during fires or storms,” he said.
The technical risks are stark. According to TNO, weathering releases nearly 90 million grams of asbestos annually in the Netherlands. About 1 percent becomes airborne as loose fibers — roughly 1 to 2 billion fibers per gram. The health risks are long-term: TNO estimates that between now and 2050, another 15,800 people will be diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases and die from them.
The homeowners association Vereniging Eigen Huis (VEH) also supports stronger government oversight. However, the group welcomed the decision to abandon the proposed ban. “The government was trying to throw the problem over the fence to homeowners,” VEH spokesperson Nico Stolwijk told AD. “But you can’t clean up without your neighbors. If your shed’s roof partly sits on their property and they refuse to cooperate, you’re powerless."
