Where is the housing party?

All the problems and bottlenecks in our own little country, of course, don’t amount to much when you compare them to the horrific war in and around Ukraine. Even a concept like housing shortage is suddenly relative when you realize that elsewhere people are being bombed or shot out of their homes. That’s something everyone can agree on. So it’s good to see that – however limited that may be – we as Dutch are taking action for the people who are now being affected there.

It does not, of course, relieve us of the duty to manage our domestic affairs as best we can. And so it does not relieve us of our right, or rather our duty, to cast a vote in the municipal elections next week. Various surveys – including search behavior on the vote checkers – show that housing is a very hot topic for a lot of people right now. And rightly so, because too many people have been waiting too long for a home. The end of the housing shortage is nowhere in sight. The shortage is still increasing, so are prices, and the pace of construction remains far too slow.

So it’s no wonder that – in addition to safety and quality of life – housing can be the deciding factor for many people when they cast their vote on March 16. But where is the housing party? There isn’t actually one. In addition to the traditional parties, there are many local parties. There are elderly parties, an animal party, and there is even a party in Nijmegen that will participate in the upcoming elections with 0 positions. But to my knowledge there is no action party for housing. Of course, almost all parties say they will do anything to provide enough housing, but in practice this is often disappointing.

I would say: when casting your vote, look not only at the positions and propositions of today, but also at the achievements of the past four years. And distrust the parties that mainly want to solve the housing shortage with extra rules, requirements and regulations, because that certainly won’t help. These parties are no longer found only on the left; the Liberals have also been doing their bit. The housing shortage has now risen to over 300,000, the economy is growing again and so is the number of inhabitants, so the need to build much and quickly, in and outside the city, remains enormous!