Start Construction Impulse (SBI)

Increased population growth, rising interest rates, and significantly increased construction costs are leading to a major housing construction challenge. Projects that are at risk of stalling due to changing economic conditions because they can no longer make their business case work may be eligible for the Start Construction Impulse (SCI). This Start Construction Impulse is intended to mitigate the expected downturn in the construction industry. Projects that have progressed far enough in terms of planning to commence but come to a halt due to changing circumstances can be reactivated with this stimulus. The SCI can be applied for by municipalities.

Shortlist

The Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations has made a shortlist available. The purpose of this list is to create an inventory of potential projects for the Start Construction Impulse (SBI) in order to understand what is currently in progress. It is not a requirement for SBI submission to be included on this shortlist.

Conditions

Several conditions or requirements have been formulated that the project must meet. If the project does not meet these conditions, it will not be eligible. If only a portion of the project meets these conditions, you can submit an application for that specific part.

• Construction must commence no later than 2024/2025.
• Delivery must occur no later than 36 months after the start of construction (2027/2028). (Start of construction = the first pile)
• permanent residential construction
• The requirement is that a minimum of 50% of the housing units should be affordable, including social rental housing, middle-income rental housing (up to €1023,-), and affordable homeownership (up to €355,000,-).
• Legal certainty must be established at the time of construction commencement, which could include having an irrevocable zoning plan or a signed agreement with the developer in place, among other legal measures to ensure the project’s viability.
• The involved developer or housing corporation must endorse the application.

There is no minimum number of housing units that must be met. The application must be submitted by the municipality, in collaboration with market parties and housing corporations.

Budget and schedule

For the Start Construction Impulse €300 million is available. If it turns out from the inventory of the shortlist that more budget is needed, the budget can be increased. At this moment, the amounts allocated per housing unit are not known. All submitted projects will be ranked, and allocation will be based on this ranking. Therefore, it’s not a “first come, first serve” basis.

The deadline for submission is October 13, 2023.