State contribution of 1.25 million euros for construction of 244 new homes in Park City

At issue is the award of a grant application submitted last March that will allow 244 new homes to be built in a trio of new construction projects in Beekdaelen, Brunssum and Kerkrade.

Housing impulse for first time also for joint application by several municipalities

This is the first time the Ministry has awarded a contribution from the Housing Impulse to a regional cooperation structure. With the award to Parkstad, the Minister for Housing and Spatial Planning shows that he also considers it important to build in both the urban (Brunssum, Kerkrade) and rural (Schimmert) areas.

Tim Weijers, Housing Alderman for the municipality of Kerkrade and chairman of the Executive Committee for Housing and Restructuring of the City Region of Parkstad Limburg: "This government contribution is recognition of the local housing challenges in municipalities such as Beekdaelen, Brunssum and Kerkrade in the Parkstad region. We are working together decisively in a regional context to improve the housing market. The Hague recognition helps in closing the gap to The Hague'.

The financial contribution comes from the national "Housing Impulse" scheme established by the Cabinet in 2019 from which €1 billion in subsidies have already been awarded to municipalities in four tranches in recent years. In the previous tranches, the applicant municipality had to submit a project with at least 500 new homes.

Meanwhile, the Housing Impulse scheme has also been set up for bundled applications from municipalities with smaller new construction projects, which together meet the criterion of building at least 200 new homes. The City Region of Parkstad Limburg therefore bundled three new construction projects into the application.

Application granted to three municipalities

This application was granted:

• 580,000 euros for Schimmert Center (113 homes) in Beekdaelen municipality
• 420,000 euros for Victoria Park (82 homes) in municipality of Brunssum
• 250,000 euros for D'r Pool (49 homes) in municipality of Kerkrade

Although more construction projects in the region could use a State contribution, these three housing projects best fit the Scheme's Requirements , such as that housing construction must start within 3 years and criteria to substantiate that an additional State contribution to municipal investment is necessary for new housing construction.

Tim Weijers, Alderman living: ''Quality and improving livability is the guiding principle for all new housing plans being developed in Kerkrade over the next few years. The redevelopment and new construction of apartments and houses in the d'r Pool area are a good example of our approach, which we can already start with in the short term.''

In 2019, the Cabinet made available the Housing Impulse Scheme with €1 billion to accelerate the construction of housing for starters and middle-income earners. In February 2021, the municipality of Heerlen has already received a contribution of €4.5 million from the second tranche of the Housing Impulse to build 693 new homes in the city center. Last year, the national coalition agreement stated that the Scheme would continue in the new coalition period and an additional €1 billion was released. A sum of €250 million was available for the fifth tranche. It is expected that it will also be possible to submit applications for a sixth tranche by the end of this year.