CDA, VVD now agree their plan for 100,000 new homes per year is impossible

The CDA and VVD now agree that building 100,000 homes per year to fight the Dutch housing shortage is likely impossible. The target of 100,000 homes per year was initially set by a CDA Minister in a VVD-led Cabinet, and was then picked up by BBB politician Mona Keijzer in the current Cabinet of Prime Minister Dick Schoof. But during the election debate on RTL Nieuws on Sunday, both the CDA and VVD were reluctant to commit to that number.

Left-wing opposition party GroenLinks-PvdA also would not commit to build 100,000 new residences per year. The three parties said that guaranteeing the construction of that many homes per year is a false promise. The Rutte IV Cabinet, led by VVD Prime Minister Mark Rutte and with CDA’s Hugo de Jonge as Housing Minister, had the target number in its coalition agreement.

According to CDA leader Henri Bontenbal, voters are losing faith in politics because promises like this one are not kept. According to GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans, the housing market system first needs to be overhauled, which means that the target of 100,000 new homes per year will certainly not be achieved in the first year of a new Cabinet. VVD leader Dilan Yeşilgöz hesitated to repeat the promise, fearing plans to realize such a goal would fall short.

D66 leader Rob Jetten was the only of the four party leaders willing to give such a guarantee. “The other parties lack courage and ambition,” he said in the RTL debate. He wants to immediately permit the division of homes, believing that this would enable the creation of 200,000 new homes. He also reiterated that the D66 wants to build ten new cities.

“That sounds nice, but it’s not going to happen,” Timmermans responded. He believes that housing construction primarily needs substantial government funding and that affordable housing must be built. “The VVD does build, but only for VVD voters with deep pockets. I want to build for the people who need it.”

Yeşilgöz said that the VVD’s main goal is to “build, build, build” and eliminate regulations to speed up the permit procedures. Furthermore, Yeşilgöz wants to retain the mortgage interest deduction. She argues that this will make it easier for first-time buyers to buy a home.

But experts point out that the tax measure has a price-raising effect, and the main reason people can’t find homes and prices are high is that there are not enough available. Bontenbal called the VVD’s insistence on holding on to the mortgage interest deduction out of touch with the current zeitgeist and maintaining the status quo.