Olungren: Government needs billions for large housing projects

In the coming years, the government should contribute around 20 billion euros to large-scale housing and infrastructure projects in 14 regions.

Without this contribution from the government, according to outgoing Minister Olungren, construction will be “insufficient and at a slower pace” than planned. And she warned in a letter to Parliament that the houses built would become less expensive. The next cabinet must decide on investments.

Olungren bases her letter on an investigation by a consulting firm. This relates to more than 440,000 homes in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Groningen, Eindhoven, Zwolle and others. Almost half must be built before 2030.

The government should also help with major infrastructure projects such as the extension of the Amsterdam north/south line to Schiphol, the so-called IJmeer connection between Almere and Amsterdam and a new train station in Groningen.

Private lenders cover most

Ollongren writes that the 14 projects examined are “all complex and large-scale area projects, most within the city, some outside the city.” Most of the costs (109 out of 142 billion euros) are covered by private lenders.

Previous research has shown that provinces and municipalities will face a shortfall of approximately 13.7 billion euros to build enough in the coming years.

housing shortage

Research agency ABF Research concluded in February that there was now a housing shortage of about 300,000, which had been monitoring the shortage for years on behalf of the government.

Last year, a report from the Home Office showed that 845,000 new homes would have to be built over the next 10 years to prevent a further housing shortage.