The 'klushuis'-concept is really an idea I love! It basically comes down to this; houses that are turned over to the city due to poor (read nonexistent) maintenance are being made available to individual buyers for below-market prices (starting from as little as 10.000 euro) under certain conditions. Generally these conditions are 1) the buyers are obligated to invest at least a certain amount in the renovation of the property and 2) they are to live there for a minimum of three years. In turn they get a very cheap house, guidance before and during renovation and the city is spared the hassle and cost of renovation.
Of course, the cities of The Hague and Rotterdam have introduced this concept not only because of their own phenomenal laziness. The houses that are being selected for this project are generally situated in bad neighbourhoods; the cities hope to attract people that will help better these neighbourhoods through this scheme. They envision it to increase diversity, attract local initiative and so on. I, for one, am sold! I would love the challenge of rebuilding an entire house, something you don't easily get to do in the Netherlands. Thank you Rotterdam and The Hague for seeing me as someone who will have a positive effect on your neighbourhoods!
The main reason behind this post is unfortunately not the fact that I’ll be moving into one of these houses soon, but my idea this idea is very well suited for most Belgium cities as well, be it for different reasons. As one of the only European countries with a rural-drift, Belgium has suffered depopulated inner cities. Many beautiful buildings are going to waste (literally) because of this. Even in my own neighbourhood there are at least a dozen of examples of this. In stead of raising taxes on unused property, as Belgium is doing now, they should look into subsidising their sale, to repopulate and rejuvenate the inner cities.
Of course, the cities of The Hague and Rotterdam have introduced this concept not only because of their own phenomenal laziness. The houses that are being selected for this project are generally situated in bad neighbourhoods; the cities hope to attract people that will help better these neighbourhoods through this scheme. They envision it to increase diversity, attract local initiative and so on. I, for one, am sold! I would love the challenge of rebuilding an entire house, something you don't easily get to do in the Netherlands. Thank you Rotterdam and The Hague for seeing me as someone who will have a positive effect on your neighbourhoods!
The main reason behind this post is unfortunately not the fact that I’ll be moving into one of these houses soon, but my idea this idea is very well suited for most Belgium cities as well, be it for different reasons. As one of the only European countries with a rural-drift, Belgium has suffered depopulated inner cities. Many beautiful buildings are going to waste (literally) because of this. Even in my own neighbourhood there are at least a dozen of examples of this. In stead of raising taxes on unused property, as Belgium is doing now, they should look into subsidising their sale, to repopulate and rejuvenate the inner cities.
see:
No comments:
Post a Comment