The housing Ambassador

Theme

Innovative Housing

Short description of the pilot

In this pilot housing expert will be appointed to improve the livability and housing quality in the municipality of Sluis. The municipality of Sluis is a coastal municipality in the outer South West of Zeeland, near the Belgian borderline. It is an agricultural area wit small villages and one of the oldest population of the Netherlands. Sluis deals with some problems on their housing market. A large amount of the houses in Sluis do not meet up with the fail the demands of today: too small, poor isolation, bathroom and kitchen and above all old. The number of households hardly grows, so some houses will stay empty. This can cause problems for livability and pauperization in villages. This situation is not common business in Zeeland, so a mix of innovative solutions that are adapted to the situation in Sluis and Zeeland have to be implemented.

  
The appointment of a 'housing ambassador' will be tested as a possible solution for the improvement of the housing quality of private owned houses in areas with a low pressure on the housing market. This 'ambassador' will inform housing owners in 'threatened' neighborhoods how to improve their houses and how to use the funds that are available for this in Sluis. Also the ambassador will report on the state of the housing market in those areas (emptiness, maintenance and public space)

Main aim

To conserve and improve quality of living in an area with demographic shrinkage

Expected results

1. A tested method to deal with the arisen problems with the private housing market and liveability of shrinking areas
2. A leaflet with the results of the pilot, the evaluation and recommendations

Co-partners

• Provincie Zeeland
• Gemeente Sluis