Of the 50 South Holland municipalities, 21 are on track with housing permit holders, people who have received a residence permit and are therefore allowed to stay in the Netherlands. Under the Housing Act, municipalities have the task of helping these people with a residence permit find suitable housing. The province supervises the implementation of this legal task.

Despite the scarcity in the housing market and the complex circumstances in our busy province, these municipalities manage to house permit holders in time. A commendable result, also because it ensures that people with a residence permit do not have to stay unnecessarily long in a reception center. We appreciate the efforts and cooperation of these municipalities.

Not everywhere succeeds yet

At the same time, we see that some municipalities have not (entirely) met the task, including accumulated backlog. For these municipalities, we are taking follow-up steps.

  • Nine municipalities move to step 4. These are the municipalities of Alblasserdam, Barendrecht, Delft, Kaag and Braassem, Papendrecht, Schiedam, Wassenaar, Zoetermeer and Zuidplas. These municipalities have until July 1, 2026, to show how they will still catch up on the task and backlog.

Backlog expected to be caught up by municipalities

In addition, there are municipalities that were already placed on step 4 earlier and have not yet met the task as of January 1, 2026. We are in talks with these municipalities. Based on discussions we have already had with the municipalities of The Hague, Dordrecht, Lansingerland, Oegstgeest and Vlaardingen, these municipalities seem likely to meet the task by July 1, 2026. For these municipalities, we are therefore extending step 4.

Careful and gradual supervision

The housing of permit holders is laid down in the Housing Act. The national government determines every six months how many permit holders municipalities must house. We supervise this as a province. We do this based on steps. See here the meaning per step (opens in new window).

We carry out our role as supervisor carefully and gradually, with the principle that municipalities perform the task as much as possible themselves. We continue to talk with the municipalities and support where necessary. The good results of 21 municipalities show that this is possible. At the moment, the province is still assessing the situation in a number of municipalities.