Follow-up audit of the House Building Incentive Scheme
The housing shortage has been a serious social problem in the Netherlands for many years. Many people in the Netherlands are looking for a suitable and affordable home.
The government will set aside several billion euros in the years ahead to achieve the Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning’s ambition of building 100,000 new homes in the Netherlands every year.
Previous governments have also tried to build more affordable housing. One of the most important instruments to stimulate construction since 2020 was the House Building Incentive Scheme (WBI). Some €2.25 billion was provided for this instrument between 2020 and 2024.
The WBI’s goal was to accelerate construction of affordable housing. Under the WBI, municipalities could receive government funding to carry out new house building projects. This house building incentive has now been discontinued.
Housing shortage
The Netherlands Court of Audit first audited measures to tackle the housing shortage in 2022. We concluded that the minister could not convincingly claim that the WBI was accelerating the construction of affordable housing. Today, four years after the WBI’s introduction, we are carrying out a follow-up audit of whether the scheme actually achieved its targets.
Is construction faster? Is more affordable housing being built thanks to the WBI? What is the status of housing projects in municipalities that applied for funding under the WBI?
Why are we carrying out this audit?
The Netherlands Court of Audit wants to determine whether the intended results were achieved with the public money provided from the WBI. Parliament and the minister can use the audit insights to formulate new policy as the housing shortage is not yet over.
Do you want to take part in this audit?
The Court of Audit invites you to share any information you may have that would benefit our audit. We appreciate all contributions, knowledge and experience you may care to share with us on this topic. Simply send an email to bijdrage@rekenkamer.nl.
We read all emails carefully and treat them in confidence. However, we are not able to reply to every contribution we receive.