Update: the housing ambassador
Zeeland is a Dutch province where demographic change is one of the main challenges. Though well-known by its beaches and therefore in summer a tourist magnet, its younger people move away for better career possibilities or university in Amsterdam or Rotterdam. They leave a further increasing population of elderly and people with less possibilities behind. To tackle this spiral of deterioration and prevent the appearance of more vacant houses, the province and municipality of Sluis started a pilot with a “housing ambassador”. The role of the ambassador is to monitor public space, advice house-owners concerning the technical condition of their housing and to be the link to the municipality and funds.
The ambassador has been appointed early August and is accompanied by the possibility for owners to contract a soft government loan up to € 25.000 with an interest of only 0,5%. The municipal council is currently planning to raise the budget to € 35.000 to expand the programme to include the raising of the quality of living (i.e. isolation, new kitchen, etc.). The budget is intended to revitalize private owned houses on the low end of the market with a maximum of € 160.000 per property. The focus is to increase the value of housing which is now in a bad state of repair, to reduce or at least stabilize the current surplus of vacant houses.
This new impetus was enthusiastically picked up by local brokers, estate agents and construction companies. They were consulted by the ambassador and will direct owners towards the ambassador-programme. Though the goal is to strengthen the housing market, some entrepreneurs are not yet vividly involved. The municipality is seeking new ways to communicate the provision to enhance the cooperation of private parties.
