From bottlenecks to opportunities

Nico Geerlings makes a clear statement during the visit of the Queen's Commissioner of South Holland, Jaap Smit, to Noordwijkerhout on March 22. Joint effort, inventiveness and creativity are absolutely necessary to arrive at housing solutions. Not only for the group of labor migrants, but also for other urgent seekers.

Not only the merger between Noordwijk and Noordwijkerhout and the identity of village centers were topics of conversation during Jaap Smit's official visit to Noordwijkerhout on Thursday, March 22. After his conversation with the College of B&W, the commissioner spoke with representatives of civil society organizations about, among other things, the many immigrant workers who work and live in Noordwijkerhout . About housing them, care and language barriers.

In his talk, Nico Geerlings emphasized the urgency, but more importantly, the possible solution directions for housing migrant workers.

Urgency

  • Migrant workers make an indispensable contribution to the economy.
  • Number of EU migrant workers growing: 15% of the population of Noordwijkerhout is migrant workers. That means about 2,400 people.
  • In the covenant "housing labor migrants Holland Rhineland 2014-2018" (see appendices) the ambition has been established to expand the housing for labor migrants to 4250 places.
  • Anno 2018, it appears that realization falls far short of ambition: of the 4250 places, 976 have been realized (23%). Some of these 976 places do not involve new realization, but application of the "bed for bed arrangement.
  • The current need for places for housing for migrant workers in Holland-Rhineland is estimated at 3,500.

Background

  • Migrant workers are needed to keep the economy running and indispensable in Engineering, Agriculture and Horticulture, Healthcare and Services.
  • Migrant workers provide us with far more than they cost us, offering opportunities rather than threats.
  • Annually, the group of migrant workers in Noordwijkerhout stands to reinvest some 40 million euros in the local economy.
  • Failure or insufficient quality housing means workers staying away and stagnation of growth in the local economy.

Solutions

  • Good, solid housing in a very tight market requires a lot of inventiveness, creativity and joint effort. The different groups, including young people and emergency seekers, should not compete with each other but rather reinforce each other.
  • Find solutions not only within cities, but also in the outlying areas, (edges) industrial sites and rezonings should contribute.
  • Seek solutions on future new construction sites.
  • Flexible (temporary) solutions, such as the Trampoline at Noordwijkerhout.
  • The dialogue Engage to come up with constructive plans and solutions with municipalities when it comes to inner-city opportunities, but also with province when it comes to outer-city areas.
  • The housing challenges are not a threat, but an opportunity to bind young hard-working immigrant workers to us for longer, not only for the short term but also for the long term. With which we can also absorb the upcoming wave of aging.