Housing corporations, developers and investors operating in The Hague and the municipality of The Hague signed the Housing Action Agenda 2025 – 2027 on Wednesday 26 March. This took place during the Spryg Congress The Hague Real Estate 2025. The Housing Action Agenda aims to accelerate building plans in The Hague to development and implementation.
‘Large inner-city area developments in The Hague are complex and require a lot of pre-investment and preparation time, while the housing shortage is enormous and people are yearning for a home,’ says alderman Robert van Asten of Urban Development, Libraries and Europe. “This requires good cooperation and coordination with the corporations and market players. In the discussions we had about this last year at the Hague Housing Table, the market parties made concrete proposals to bring plans to fruition faster. The Housing Action Agenda incorporates these ideas. I am pleased that we are putting our shoulders to the wheel on the housing task together and I expect that in this way we will together achieve the necessary acceleration.”
The Housing Construction Action Agenda follows on from the Doorbouwverbond (Doorbuilding Alliance) concluded in June 2023. The reason is the enormous housing task facing The Hague. The city is expected to grow by about 5,000 new residents a year in the coming years. This puts pressure on all segments of The Hague’s housing market. The demand for affordable housing is high. There are also growing waiting lists and longer waiting times for social housing.
‘I am really worried about the people who do not have a good and affordable roof over their heads,’ stated Alderman Martijn Balster of Housing, Welfare, Neighbourhoods and South West. “The waiting lists are growing and waiting times are increasing. Therefore, housing construction simply has to be faster and more efficient. We must do everything possible to shorten the lead times of building plans. This Action Agenda will help us do just that”.
Measures and actions to address this housing shortage can be found in the Housing Vision 2040. For instance, The Hague wants to build 4,000 houses every year. In recent years, much has been done to increase housing production and increase the share of social and affordable housing in programming. The effects of this will be visible from 2024 onwards. Despite the great efforts of the municipality, housing associations and market players, the construction ambition of taking 4,000 houses under construction has not been fully realised in recent years.
Annemarie Jol, director of development AM and vice-chair of The Hague Housing Foundation: “We are pleased with this Housing Action Agenda. Many people are desperate for housing. Especially for starters on the housing market, it is difficult to get a new home. We in The Hague would like to do our bit for new liveable neighbourhoods and districts. Developers, corporations and investors can and want to take action. We see real opportunities to cooperate better and speed up processes. The Action Agenda comes up with good proposals for that”.
The Actieagenda Woningbouw 2025 – 2027, which has been given the motto “Dare to choose”, contains concrete proposals to organise housing construction smarter and more efficiently. For instance, there are proposals for joint planning teams and planning, for early and integral consideration of policy ambitions, for streamlining processes and for better coordination during ongoing permit procedures.
In addition, the Action Agenda provides ideas for involving market parties more intensively in preparatory activities for building plan developments and for expanding the plan stock. With their signatures, all partners commit to a joint effort to accelerate building production in The Hague.
Read the action agenda here (in Dutch)
Photo: provided by Gemeente Den Haag