BLG Wonen has clear mission with housing accessibility

26/09/22

Housing Accessibility Monitor offers perspective in tough housing market

The housing market is clearly under pressure. Many groups are looking for affordable housing, ‘but because a fair playing field is not created for these housing seekers, it is difficult’, states Georgette Lageman, housing expertise center manager at BLG Wonen.

In response to this inaccessible housing market, BLG Wonen has developed the Housing Accessibility Monitor jointly with PwC and Companen. Mila Harmelink, involved in the project from PwC, in conversation with Georgette Lageman about the impact of the monitor on the housing market.

Georgette Lageman (BLG Wonen) and Mila Harmelink (PwC)

Social ambition

Established in 1954 as Bouwfonds Limburgse Gemeenten with the aim of promoting home ownership among miners, the organisation had a clear social focus in its articles of incorporation. ‘Owning your home involves more than just having a roof over your head’, says Lageman. ‘It offers opportunities and room for growth while also providing safety and security. It's this value behind the mortgage that we focus on within our social ambition.’

More insights in housing accessibility

A first step in promoting accessibility of the Dutch housing market is to measure housing accessibility, since this was not done yet in the Netherlands. That is why BLG Wonen, Companen and a PwC team developed the Housing Accessibility Monitor, which provides insights for whom and where the housing market in the Netherlands is currently (not) accessible for different residential segments.

To gain more insight into housing accessibility in the Netherlands, BLG Wonen developed the Housing Accessibility Monitor together with PwC and Companen. The monitor makes an index calculation based on data and indicators, such as affordability, supply and demand and the number of jobs in a particular neighborhood. This translates into a score that can be viewed both at the geographical level (zip code, municipality and the Netherlands) and at the level of target groups.

Creating a level playing field

'Unlike similar monitors, the monitor makes it possible to make very concrete statements about residential accessibility in a particular area. According to the monitor, this was very low on the Wadden Islands, for example, for the original inhabitants. The cause was found to be vacation home owners,' says Harmelink. 'So the monitor plays a very important role in creating that level playing field,' Lageman adds.

Georgette Lageman (BLG Wonen)

Housing accessibility on the agenda

BLG Wonen is also using the monitor to identify new priorities, such as home seekers who currently spend a large portion of their income on rent. This way, the monitor provides a perspective for action.

Lageman: ‘The monitor enables us to create awareness by choosing and explaining a different relevant perspective on housing accessibility each time. A good example was the recent municipal elections where we were able to show whether accessibility was high or low in different municipalities. The results generated a lot of publicity and also provided a good opportunity to put the subject on the agenda.’

A serious consultative partner

Lageman sees the monitor as an asset that supports BLG Wonen as a serious consultative partner. ‘We do indeed have thought-leader ambitions as a company when it comes to housing accessibility. We achieve this by putting accessibility issues on the agenda, regularly seeking media coverage and engaging with politicians. Sharing knowledge and working with other parties is also important as we can't change the housing market on our own.’

Tough housing market

Lageman paints a picture of the complexity of the Dutch housing market: ‘The number of divorces, a sharp increase in single-person households and the privatisation of care services – causing the elderly to remain in their homes longer – have led to an increasing demand. In addition, the housing market is interconnected with many other areas and determined by a range of variables. If the Minister of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment starts imposing requirements on CO2 emissions, for instance, this will affect the building agenda.’

No countercyclical policy was pursued during the crisis years and this is now having a direct impact on supply, Lageman notes. ‘What’s more, houses are not fast consumer products. Everything happens slowly. Add to this the shortage of workers and materials, unachieved sustainability targets and the willingness of municipalities to release land for building and you have many interesting and challenging issues to solve in a tough housing market.’

Mila Harmelink (PwC)

Looking ahead to the future

‘Another important focus area is how to make better use of the current housing stock. The Dutch take up a relatively large amount of living space in houses that are often too big for their occupiers. Staying in larger homes in the face of shortages and scarcity will cease to be an option at some point. You can be smarter about that by moving in with friends or subdividing homes.’

Equal opportunities

Finally, Lageman has something to add to her view of the future: ‘We have common climate targets but no national housing targets. We should have. A target to build 900,000 homes is fine but it only says something about volume, not about creating equal opportunities. And providing access to that housing market is critical – we should never forget that housing is a fundamental right.’