The fist of the construction world

Build. Build, build! Faster, faster, faster. I’ve written that many times in this column. It’s the only way to get the jammed housing market out of the way. Not regulate, but stimulate. The army of like-minded people has grown bigger and bigger, and now there’s even a real construction offensive. Associations of companies and trade associations are pleading with the government for an investment package with which housing production can be increased to 90,000 homes per year.

“The construction world is making a fist” heads the trade journal Cobouw, which speaks of an ‘unprecedented broad alliance’ from the construction world. Incidentally, the alliance is broader than just ‘the construction world’. My own real estate association NVM is part of it, but also the Vereniging Eigen Huis, the G40 (network of the 40 largest municipalities in the Netherlands) and the Vereniging van Grondbedrijven. The alliance foresees a housing shortage of 419,000 homes in 2025, while housing production is expected to plummet as early as this year.

The municipalities promise to continue with plan development and the granting of permits: take decisive action, speed up decisions and offer flexibility in programming and phasing. There is also a plea for a national land investment fund, from which municipalities can finance their pre-investments for the development and preparation of sites. And there are many other proposals.

The seriousness of the situation is certainly acknowledged by Minister Ollongren of the Interior, who is also responsible for housing. In ‘The State of the Housing Market’, her ministry has calculated that 845,000 homes will have to be built between 2020 and 2030 in order to meet the growing demand. That is not so far from the 90,000 per year of the alliance. However, it is to be feared that these numbers will not be reached for the time being. We do not expect to exceed 55,000 homes in our country this year. Although there seems to be a workable solution to the nitrogen problem, switching fast remains difficult. And we will have to wait and see to what extent the municipalities will actually show flexibility in their programming. Of course I support the alliance, but I also feel some scepticism when it comes to turning words into deeds. Let’s hope that the fist of ‘the construction world’ carries enough weight.