The Dutch government has awarded funding to three housing projects in the Eindhoven area.
There are Castile Avenue and Emmasingelkwadrant – both in Eindhoven – and Helmond Centre-Noord. These projects will result in about 2,500 new homes in the region. Neunen’s Cllr Caroline van Brakel of Nuenen says they can now speed up the construction of the houses in Helmond and Eindhoven.
“That will result in more affordable homes in our region. We are very pleased with this.” The Eindhoven Urban Area submitted six projects, but only these three were given funds. “Of course, we regret this,” she admits.
Possibly resubmission of rejected proposals
“We’ll look at why the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations rejected (the other three) projects. We will do so along with the Ministry. We’ll also consider resubmitting these before the end of October,” Cllr Van Brakel said.
The end of October marks the deadline for the second round of submissions. Cllr Van Brakel added that they’d remember the lessons learned from the first round for the future.
The 2,500 funded homes will be built in Helmond in Centrum-Noord (900 units). In Eindhoven, 700 houses will go up in Castiliëlaan and 900 in Emmasingelkwadrant. Eindhoven councillor, Yasin Torunoglu, says, “I’m incredibly happy with the housing incentive’s support.”
Affordable housing
These projects concern many subsidized and medium-priced rental homes.” These will soon be available to starters, young families, students, and so on. The Eindhoven projects each have a different character. “The temporary homes on the Castiliëlaan are good news for people who need to find housing quickly. These people don’t stand a chance on the current market.”
“Without the housing initiative, it would have been much tougher to realize these projects. These projects focus a lot on quality of living, co-habitation, greenery and natural surroundings,” says Cllr Torunoglu. The Emmasingelkwadrant project consists of 80% affordable housing.
“In Helmond Centrum-Noord, we’ll use the money for things like infrastructure construction,” adds Helmond councillor, Gaby van den Waardenburg. “This will give our centre and housing goals an enormous boost. I’m delighted with this.”
Part of national incentive
These projects are part of a national housing boost. More than 51,000 homes, within 27 projects, can now be built. The Dutch government has invested €290 million in this. Municipalities and provinces are contributing the €331 million shortfall.
“The houses can now be built more quickly, are more affordable, or there will be more than originally planned,” reads an Eindhoven City Council press release. “Construction of most of the projects will start as early as 2021.”
Minister Kasja Ollongren, of the Dutch Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, says, “This result exceeds all my expectations. It’s good to see that so many municipalities have succeeded in submitting good quality applications in a short time.”
‘Only first part’
“These thousands of additional homes will make a substantial contribution to addressing the housing shortage, she says. “And this is only the first part of the allocations I’m going to make. Now we need to start building those 51,000 homes as quickly as possible.”
Of the 51,000 homes to be built, 65%, or 32,579, fall into the affordable category. In 2019, the government made €1 billion available for the housing incentive. The aim is to contribute to the construction of at least 65,000 homes. It’s one of the ways housing construction is being boosted.
“After all, the shortfall is considerable,” reads the council’s press statement. “And we need to build 845,000 homes by 2030. The government will, therefore, continue to invest to meet this challenge.”
Source: Eindhoven City Council
Translator: Melinda Walraven
