From bottlenecks to opportunities

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

Not only the merger between Noordwijk and Noordwijkerhout and the identity of the village centers were topics of discussion during the official visit that Jaap Smit paid to Noordwijkerhout on Thursday, March 22. After his conversation with the board of aldermen, the commissioner spoke with representatives of social organizations about, among other things, the many labor migrants who work and live in Noordwijkerhout, about their housing, care and language barriers.

In his argument, Nico Geerlings emphasized the urgency, but especially the possible solutions for housing migrant workers.

Urgency

• Migrant workers make an indispensable contribution to the economy.
• Number of EU labor migrants is growing: 15% of the population of Noordwijkerhout is a labor migrant. That means approximately 2400 people.
• In the covenant 'housing migrant workers Holland Rijnland 2014-2018' (see appendices) the ambition is laid down to expand the housing for migrant workers to 4250 places.
• As of 2018, the realization lags far behind the ambition: of the 4250 places, 976 have been realized (23%). Part of these 976 places does not concern new realization, but application of the 'bed for bed arrangement'.
• The current need for housing for labor migrants in Holland-Rijnland is estimated at 3500.

Background

• Labor migrants are needed to keep the economy running and are indispensable in Technology, Agriculture, Healthcare and Services.
• Labor migrants contribute much more to us than they cost us, thus offering opportunities instead of threats.
• Annually, the group of labor migrants in Noordwijkerhout reinvests around 40 million euros in the local economy.
• The absence of or insufficient quality housing means employees staying away and stagnation of the growth of the local economy.

Solutions

• Good, solid housing in a very tight market requires a great deal of ingenuity, creativity and joint effort. The various groups, including young people and those in urgent need of housing, should not compete with each other but should rather reinforce each other.
• Look for solutions not only in inner-city areas, but also in the outer areas, (edges of) industrial sites and redevelopments should contribute.
• Look for solutions at future new construction locations.
• Flexible (temporary) solutions, such as the Trampoline in Noordwijkerhout.
• Enter into dialogue to arrive at constructive plans and solutions with municipalities when it comes to inner-city possibilities, but also with the province when it comes to outer-city areas.
• The housing challenges are not a threat, but an opportunity to retain young, hardworking labor migrants for longer, not only for the short term but also for the long term. This allows us to absorb the upcoming aging wave.