Amsterdam-Noord tackles housing crisis with flex homes: ‘This is panic football’
Flexible homes must be built quickly in Amsterdam-Noord, it was announced last week. A quick solution to an urgent problem, says the city council. But in the end, temporary housing does not structurally solve the problem.
On what is now still a bit of a dark, vacant lot on Appelweg on the edge of Tuindorp Oostzaan, houses must be built at an emergency pace next year if it is up to the municipal council to relieve some of the tightness in the housing market. Temporary housing, for five years: flexible housing in jargon, 63 units. Intended for young people, students and status holders.
Flexible homes are not a new concept, but with the acute housing shortage, the government and the municipality are investing with renewed energy in the construction of temporary homes that can be realized quickly. It can be done faster than regular homes, it sounds. And the quality is good: it would have gone up by leaps and bounds in recent years.
Up to 3000 flex homes in Amsterdam
As said: Central government and municipalities work together. Nationally, efforts are being made to build no less than 37,500 flexible homes up to and including 2024. Alderman Reinier van Dantzig (Housing) wants 2500 to 3000 flexible homes to be established in Amsterdam in the early years, including on Strandeiland and around the Gaasperdammertunnel, Riekerpark and, as concretely realized last week became, on apple road.
movable housing is one of the resources used in the housing crisis, says Rob Haans, chairman of the board of De Alliantie housing association and, since last summer, also chairman of the Temporary Housing Acceleration Task Force. “A lot is happening, construction is underway, business premises are being transformed and we are focusing on the construction of temporary homes. It is not instead of regular construction, it is an addition.”
The scarcity of housing is extreme, the need is great, says Haans. “And then there were the additional refugees last year. All this leads to extremely long waiting times for homes. We may have to build 900,000 houses in the next decade, but 40,000 flex homes altogether make up less than 6.5 percent. Every home counts.”
But it sounds anything but ideal. At first glance, movable homes evoked the image of the container homes of the past: stacked dozens, dumped lovelessly in places where no one actually wants to live. Dark, atmospheric and noisy.
‘No containers’
However, the quality of those homes has improved by leaps and bounds in recent years, says Haans. “You shouldn’t think of stacked container homes for a long time now. It’s not as soulless as it used to be. It is sustainable and, for example, more use is made of wood. Many people will not even see from the outside that it is not a regular building.”
The place where the houses are located is not infrequently a problem: municipalities were and are sometimes limited in making land available for the movable houses. While there is definitely space available, says Haans. “Take locations in Amsterdam that are reserved for the construction of a new metro line, for example: that will take years. It is then smart to use that space for temporary housing options.”
Then there are the costs. Housing associations, among others, calculate that the investments are too high to earn back in a short period of fifteen years. It is for this reason that Haans prefers to speak of movable homes instead of flexible ones. “You can move them after those fifteen years. If you can then establish such a house in a different location for another fifteen years, you get the effect right, then it can be done.”
‘A divestment’
The Amsterdam architect Harvey Otten has serious doubts about this. It is not a confirmation of flexible housing. “Putting money into temporary housing is a disinvestment. Regular homes last more than a hundred years in the Netherlands, but due to the The short payback period of flex homes can ultimately be three to six times as high.”
According to Otten, it is easy to think about picking up a home to put those elderly people down again. “The house itself is only part of what you have: you will have to ensure a good foundation, piles have to be driven into the ground. And the houses must be connected to water and electricity and the immediate surroundings must be furnished. ”
‘Much faster’
You conclude a problem in the future. “If we are going to build almost 40,000 temporary homes in three years, all of those will have to be demolished or demolished in five years. At the moment we demolish 20,000 homes per year out of a total of 8 million, and soon a lot will be added.”
But yes, there is urgency now, says Haans. “Temporary accommodation is available much faster. Regular construction has a lead time of seven years in all, flexible construction means that you can be ready in a year. If we only focus on the construction of regular homes, the flow will come to an abrupt halt. There are certainly people in the Netherlands who would like to live there.”
‘Panic football’
Otten finds it short-sighted. He points to Strandeiland IJburg, where the municipality will also build flex homes. Evil is convinced. “It took years to spray that island, now that the building land is finally there, you have to use it for the construction of small houses. You can’t imagine this, can you? There is a problem of panic football, you trust yourself in trouble to buy a little time. Ask people: would you rather live in a glorified shoebox now? a little later in a solid home?”
According to him, the solution to the problem lies in the fact that the lead time in regular construction is so long. “Do something about that. In practice, seven years of construction is five years of permits and procedures, one year of preparation and one year of construction. Those five years of drivel, do something about it, then you will gain real time. Instead of building houses that are still inferior to regular houses, that pretend to be cubicles and that are ultimately not the way you shape a city.