The cabinet still does not offer large cities enough tools to combat excesses in the housing market. This is evident from a tour of NRC along seven cities that have concluded a so-called housing deal with Minister Ollongren (Internal Affairs).
In these deals, Ollongren made agreements with cities about, among other things, the number of additional houses to be built, but also about how, for example, to curb extreme increases in rental rates in the free sector.
Emergency button
The cabinet would help with that ambition with national legislation and regulations. Aldermen in the cities say that these instruments are still insufficient.
They lack an ’emergency button’ to prohibit extreme rent increases or a self-occupation obligation to deter slum landlords. “I’ve actually been waiting for a year and a half, which is a shame,” says Amsterdam alderman Laurens Ivens.
Back cover needed from cabinet
Cities try to counter excesses on their own initiative, but tell NRC that they lack national coverage. “We are now trying to solve it with local agreements, but I regulate the middle rent (720 to 1100 euros, red.) rather with legal backing “, says Kees Diepeveen, alderman in Utrecht.
The cities do praise other aspects of the housing deals, such as the priority on subsidy support when building houses. Groningen alderman Van der Schaaf emphasizes that housing deals are not structural solutions to the problems in the housing market. Another cabinet must “head the ball in”.
Ollongren presented her in 2018 National Housing Agenda, with which about 75,000 homes a year must be built until 2025. In June last year figured The Ministry of the Interior said that 845,000 new homes will have to be added over the next ten years to prevent the housing shortage from further increasing.
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