There is a housing crisis in the Netherlands, Minister Stientje van Veldhoven (Housing) acknowledges on Wednesday during a debate in the Lower House. The solutions offered and the approach to the problem receive a lot of criticism from Kamerbreed.
According to the PvdA even the fundamental rights of citizens are in danger of being violated. “The Constitution is being defied,” said MP Henk Nijboer. “The government says there is a housing crisis, but is standing there and looking at it.” The Constitution states that “sufficient housing” is a government task.
“Nothing happens to make housing affordable again,” said GroenLinks MP Paul Smeulders. He sees a “housing gap” between people who can buy a house and the group that cannot afford it.
The verdict was also harsh from the coalition. “The government is not doing enough to turn the tide,” said CDA member Erik Ronnes. “The plans are buttery.”
Carla Dik-Faber (ChristenUnie): “My patience is slowly running out”.
“We are in a crisis,” acknowledged Van Veldhoven. “For starters and families with low and middle incomes it is really very difficult to find a home.”
The government’s goal is to build 75,000 new homes every year. That number was achieved if the converted buildings were counted (transformation homes) in the past year. The problems with nitrogen and PFAS, which caused thousands of building permits to come to a halt at the end of May, make this a very difficult task for this year.
Chamber majority for abolishing landlord tax
The Chamber suggested various solutions. Especially from the opposition was the call to hear the abolition of the so-called landlord tax. Housing corporations have to pay 1.7 billion euros annually, a crisis measure that was introduced in 2013 to get the government finances in order, but the effect is that corporations build less.
Although a majority in the Chamber appears to be opposed to the measure, the levy will not disappear quickly. Within the coalition, the ChristenUnie is in favor of abolishing the landlord tax, the CDA is openly in doubt.
It is mainly the VVD that wants to maintain the measure. Housing corporations are already making a profit of around 4 billion euros, says VVD MP Daniel Koerhuis. A tax benefit of almost 2 billion euros is therefore unnecessary and must also be paid by others to the left or to the right. “Free money does not exist”, says Koerhuis.
Van Veldhoven prefers to look at the plans that are still on the shelf at the corporations. “Only 60 percent of the plans have been realized. So we still have 40 percent to win,” says the minister.
The government will reduce the levy by € 100 million annually in the next ten years, but parties such as GroenLinks, SP and PvdA think that this is too little and too slow.
Call for the return of the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment
The CDA, SP and PvdA called for a return from the Ministry of VROM; Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment.
Now, Living is assigned to the Ministry of the Interior, a different department than the previous government. “Switching ministries, transferring entire groups of civil servants from one ministry to another, is not something you do every four years,” Ronnes said.
Van Veldhoven thinks this is a good plan, but it is up to the next government to work on it.
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