The cabinet has designated five new locations across the Netherlands where thousands of homes must be built at an accelerated pace. Housing Minister Elanor Boekholt-O’Sullivan informed the House of Representatives that around 30,000 homes in parts of Deventer, Haarlem, Leeuwarden, Maastricht and Weert are expected to be completed more quickly by 2035. She is not providing additional funding to make those homes affordable.
The five locations join 21 other large-scale housing development sites previously designated by earlier cabinets. The aim is for the national government to support housing construction in these areas. According to the Ministry of Housing, measures such as faster permit procedures should allow building work to begin sooner.
Later this year, the D66 minister plans to select another five locations.
Boekholt-O’Sullivan said she deliberately selected areas that either do not require additional accessibility funding or have already received it.
Previous cabinets allocated billions of euros for infrastructure around large-scale housing development sites. An exception was the four areas added by former housing minister Mona Keijzer. Keijzer left it to her successor to find a solution for those locations.
Part of the land earmarked for future housing is currently designated for businesses. Boekholt-O’Sullivan said she wants to make further agreements with the municipalities involved to identify new locations for those businesses.
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