A solution to the housing shortage is feasible if an additional road is built in every village and town. The Wirtschaftsinstitut Bauen (EIB) came to this conclusion in a new study.

The EIB says small green residential sites close to existing buildings can make a big difference. The research was carried out in the province of North Holland, as this is a densely populated region. The basic idea is that if there are housing opportunities in this region, then there are also opportunities in the sparsely populated provinces.

According to the EIB, this appears to be the case in North Holland. When looking for an apartment, the institute adhered to strict requirements. For example, the construction of houses within a radius of 500 meters around existing buildings was considered. And nature reserves are not part of the quest, only agricultural land is buildable.

Researchers concluded that there is room for more than 300,000 homes in the province, while the Interior Ministry plans to build 200,000 homes by 2030.

Check here how many new houses the provinces want to build:

The problem is that not every one of these 300,000 potential apartments is in demand because, for example, they would be built in less desirable locations. The EIB has therefore made even more stringent selections based on demand in specific areas. This shows a perspective for 74,000 apartments, with significantly less being built in the north of the province because there is relatively little demand there.

Overall, the institute comes to the conclusion that the government’s wish – the realization of large-scale residential locations in cities – can be combined with the construction of smaller apartments in the vicinity of existing quarters. The EIB calls this “a very hopeful deal”.

Among the advantages are that by building close to residential areas, the existing infrastructure can be used and, according to the EIB, the housing needs of many people would be met

“Don’t build the Netherlands”

In the report, the institute is also critical of the government’s plans. Above all, she wants to build as much as possible in already densely built-up areas so as not to “overbuild the Netherlands”. Too little attention is paid to green locations, according to the EIB, as the government fears sacrificing ‘green space’ when in practice it is not.

The cabinet also wants to build primarily in large areas, “because small and medium-sized locations do not offer enough living space to achieve the desired number of apartments”. The EIB says you should look at these smaller sites because you can build there faster, with less risk of delays and failures.

Last week Minister for Housing and Spatial Planning De Jonge revealed more about his housing plans, including how many houses to build in which provinces. In a few months it will become clear where exactly construction will take place.

In another new report, the EIB points out that the government’s drive to convert offices and other buildings into apartments is difficult to achieve. The number of houses that are created is actually decreasing instead of increasing because of the many complications involved in their construction. Building along many villages and towns is therefore a faster solution, the EIB concludes again.

Before that we made this video about the blueprints: