The Netherlands is facing a shortage of approximately 384,000 homes, prompting the government to announce 50 new measures to accelerate construction. Apparently, the previous measures were insufficiently numerous to convince a building to exist. With planning and permits taking around eight years, Dutch authorities now promise to cut that time in half by 2030. A magnificent achievement: future generations may finally receive permission to build the homes their parents needed.
Meanwhile, young adults remain trapped in their childhood bedrooms, paying increasingly absurd rents or competing against investors for apartments barely larger than a respectable wardrobe.
At this point, the government might consider recognising cardboard boxes as affordable housing. Add a postcode, describe the ventilation holes as sustainable architecture, and charge €1,200 a month for an authentic urban living experience. Naturally, the box would require planning permission, an environmental assessment and approval from three municipal departments. By the time construction was authorised, the cardboard would have decomposed.
The government insists that everyone deserves a home. The housing market agrees, provided everyone is either wealthy or recently deceased with a substantial inheritance. And somewhere in The Hague, another committee is being established to investigate why people cannot live inside government promises.