Bijlage 4 - Thesis Structural housing vacancy in the municipality of Ww

The tasks are in no specific order as well as the departments see figure 7.2:

Also, what was seen in the case studies, the Municipality of Amsterdam have a whole separate team on the topic of housing vacancy that does every step needed for the vacancy ordinance. And the Municipality of Utrecht confirmed that the vacancy ordinance takes a lot of capacity across the different departments. Where they have not had the time yet to go after the people that did not notify their vacancy, because the first wave first had to be handled. And they also have not enough capacity to visit the vacant houses on address, but they invite the homeowners to the Municipality. However, for this instance what could be the roles of the departments and teams of the Municipality of Waalwijk without a vacancy ordinance. 7.1.7.2. Expected Impact The expected impact is that teams have more clarity on who does what and can see where they need someone for a question or a problem with a vacant house. It would become a more coordinated internal process for the structural housing vacancy and the Municipality can act faster on questions. This will support future steps that may need to be taken to see who all has an influence with structural housing vacancy.

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Figure 7.2 tasks per department that can happen. Created by (de Bresser, 2025).

problematic vacancy there is, Operational vacancy, what includes long-term vacancy caused by inadequate appearance, this does not say uninhabitable or anything but is the closest of it being named. This already implies a bit that Uninhabitable houses need a different way to be looked at and resolved. In chapter 3.1 where the vacancy act is discussed there it is also made clear in the part of the conversation with owner that the house will get a label of ‘suitable for use’ or not and if it is not suitable to live then there have to renovations being made however for some that would cost more than the house is actually worth so then there is no real way to continue with the building until it becomes a hazard for the living environment and have to be destroyed what can take some while, and preferably no one would want. More Act may than be applicable of use as well. In the interview with the Municipality of Tilburg there was also briefly touched upon the uninhabitable houses, where they also mentioned that the Lw can not help the houses that already are deteriorating and unsuitable to live in. An opportunity they got advised was to encourage the homeowner to go to a real estate agent that still wanted something to do for the property.

All of these chapters 2.2, 3.1 & 6.1.3 imply that there is more to do or a different route to take for the uninhabitable houses what is not in the same category as structurally vacant houses.

7.1.7.3. Potential Challenges The main challenge is the capacity per department where people are already busy with everything so a task distribution could help the pressure on some parts but can also increase it on other parts. Another is getting everyone from the department to agree with the roles and way of working together. This may also take some time before it is all set and working efficiently.

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7.1.8.1. Proposed Actions

7.1.8.3. Potential Challenges

7.1.9. Vacancy Ordinance

7.1.9.2. Expected Impact

The actions what can be taken for this however also have to be researched more is looking at the other acts more into the housing act and also the environmental act on different things with unsafe or deteriorating houses. Or also like the option Tilburg is also looking at with seeing if there are more real estate agents that want to help the homeowners in selling it or having renovations being done. What can be done is really categorising this clearly in the excel and the geoportal so when the proper research or way of restoring the uninhabitable houses is done it already has the list of what is most important.

The main challenge is the legal site of it all and how it is defined with uninhabitable, also there are high renovation costs if the owner wants to take actions. Because the uninhabitable houses and the structurally vacant houses need a different approach there needs to be more research if there is a want in bringing the uninhabitable houses back to the housing market.

The strategy vacancy ordinance is here because currently the Municipality of Waalwijk does not have a vacancy ordinance, even though this is a legal instrument of the Lw. The way a vacancy ordinance is set up can be read in chapter 3.1.1. If the Municipality wants to make use of a vacancy ordinance there are the tools to, give the homeowner the obligation to report the vacancy, have a conversation with the owner and nominate a user for the vacant house. However, in the case study chapter 6 Utrecht mentioned that they have taken use of the vacancy ordinance, and it works well for them to get faster in contact with the homeowners especially with the combination of it with the Chw. However, Utrecht also gave as advice that the upkeep of the vacancy ordinance would need three to four hundred thousand euros a year, and the capacity that it takes makes it not really doable for smaller municipalities. Tilburg also mentioned that the vacancy ordinance for them would be in combination with the experiment of the Chw otherwise it would not help them with reducing the structural vacant houses.

Introducing the vacancy ordinance would strengthen the Municipality to talk with the homeowners to take action. However, if looking at the number of the structural vacant houses, with 50 having no valid reason. It is not really realistic to use a vacancy ordinance and the municipalities capacity for only 50 houses.

7.1.8.2. Expected Impact The expected impact is just to recognise the uninhabitable houses and have them already categorised on what maybe can be done or if it already is a danger for the living environment and the department of LTH can start taking some action against it. This strategy would require more strategies for the problem itself to really make use of it.

7.1.9.3. Potential Challenges The challenges with this that too much capacity is used in the Municipality to only bring 106 houses back to the housing market with 56 of them having a valid reason of being vacant so with 50 still unanswered or non valid reasons can be brought back to the housing market. It is a constant management for all the departments. And it is helpful however as in the case study it was mentioned only if it is in combination with the experiment, where a sum of money would be required for per year to really make it work.

7.1.9.1. Proposed Actions If the Municipality wants to implement the vacancy ordinance it needs to be really targeted only on the structural housing vacancy. The making of the vacancy ordinance needs the departments to collaborate and bring input where is needed for them. The first steps of the vacancy ordinance are already kind of done however the nominating of a user is something that brings a lot of doubts because it asks the Municipality to become kind of real estate agents what is not their task. Coordination with the design of the ordinance and the criteria, exemptions and follow ups is all essential for it to work.

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7.2. Conclusion To know what the best strategies are to decrease the structural housing vacancy is not a set answer this varies per Municipality. So, in this the strategies that can be the best for the Municipality of Waalwijk were explored and explained in the form of what action is needed for the strategy what the expected impact will be and some challenges that can be faced by each strategy. To know what is best can also not be answered with one single strategy but with a combination of a few of them. The strategy that covers the tools is where the strategy of excel sheet one of the most important as a tool where all the vacancy is named in a list with how long it has been vacant and why it is vacant. Following that is the tool strategy of the fixi notification where the residents have more a voice to say what bothers them and see as vacant. And on the same level is the geoportal where the information of the excel is visualized that can help to see where in the Municipality most of the vacancy is and really talk with a visual support. The strategy of the target area municipal organization are both as important and also needs to be combined with the tools to function more cohesively. With the Internal communication always being something that can be fixed by a regular meeting through the year and the sharing of information.

So, all departments that have an interest in the structural housing vacancy knows what is happening in the Municipality about it. And the task distribution is so no double work is being done, and the collaboration becomes more smooth.

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The strategy of communication is important to communicate with the homeowners on what they want to do with the structural vacant house or what needs to be done and where the Municipality may be of help. And for the communication with residents is important to have them informed in a way that the Municipality is looking at the structural housing vacancy and how the residents can help in that matter. This helps the Municipality to be more open and can prevent misinformation being spread. The last two target areas are not really for the combination with others but something that is separate with the target area of use of space, Uninhabitable houses it can not really make a big impact on reducing the structural housing vacancy. And for this strategy to become more a strategy more research may need to be done. And lastly the target area of legal policy, Vacancy ordinance helps bring more pressure on the reducing the structural housing vacancy however has a lot of challenges in regards of it taking more capacity than there being vacant houses. Where it needs to be very clear in its criteria on the conversation with the homeowner, and when the nominating of user is happening. And this would be more helpful with the experiment to have even more pressure to actually also be able to fine the homeowners.

And this also, requires a large sum of money per year and capacity for the Municipality. However, with each strategy as it was mentioned it has its own actions, expectations and challenges. The Municipality can with this not only reduce the vacancy but also create a more responsive and more transparent system. These strategies each but better in combination can form a structured and proactive approach on ways to reduce the structural housing vacancy.

Figure 7.3: Image from another vacant house Retrieved from Saakian,(2024)

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8. Policy Advice Plan on Structural Housing Vacancy for the Municipality of Waalwijk In this chapter the eventual policy advice plan on housing vacancy for the Municipality of Waalwijk, that will be given to the Municipality will be displayed here in this chapter how it will look in English the eventual Dutch version that will be the end product for the Municipality can be found in the Appendix 12.6.

8.1. Introduction

8

In the last few years, the pressure on the Dutch housing market has intensified. Municipalities are constantly developing and planning new residential areas to meet housing demands. Looking further the Municipality of Waalwijk asked Stec group to conduct for them an in-depth housing market study. Where there was briefly touched upon that an estimate of 3% of the total; housing stock in the Municipality is currently vacant. This confirmed some signals that were already received from society. Where an important mindset is of ‘every house is one’. However, it is unclear where these vacant homes are and the reason why they are vacant. It is for that important to focus on an approach that could be taken towards structural housing vacancy (+/- 1 year and longer housing vacancy) in the Municipality of Waalwijk. This policy advice plan is thus created to gain a better understanding and see where the vacant residential buildings are, and how municipal policies and strategies can be optimized to stimulate development of using the unused residential buildings into occupied, liveable housing. Despite the relevance of reducing structural housing vacancy to the spatial environment, the Municipality of Waalwijk currently lacks a formal policy framework that addresses the structural housing vacancy. While there is a legal framework that can be adapted from the Vacancy Act, the

vacancy ordinance, from other municipalities it can be heard that it takes up a lot of capacity for the Municipality for what actually gets back to the housing market. Currently the vacancy is being recorded in an excel sheet and letters are being sent out to owners regarding the housing vacancy by the department of licensing and taxation. In the Geoportal the Vacancy of businesses and housing are shown with the data from the housing vacancy being outdated and not being updated regularly. There is currently no coordinated approach across the Municipality on how to work on the structural housing vacancy. This policy advice plan aims to provide a framework to address the structural housing vacancy. To bring the unoccupied residential buildings back into occupied, liveable housing. To continue having inclusive and affordable housing across the Municipality and have vibrant and liveable neighbourhoods. By looking at structural housing vacancy as both a spatial and social issue does it contribute to sustainable land use and long-term housing availability.

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8.2. What is Structural Housing Vacancy?

8.3. Current Approach of the Municipality of Waalwijk

First of it is important to know what within this policy advice plan will be seen as vacancy and housing vacancy before we can determine what structural housing vacancy is. Before this, research has been conducted on the definition of housing vacancy and there has been multiple ways to interpret vacancy and housing vacancy, there will be a combination of this being made for this policy advice plan and continuing on for the Municipality of Waalwijk. Housing vacancy will defined as:

Currently within the Municipality of Waalwijk there is no policy plan on structural vacant houses. However, there are several tools that are being used in the Municipality by different departments that already look at housing vacancy or could help in visualising where the housing vacancy is. These tools show potential to be used across the different departments that are dealing in one way or another with structural housing vacancy.

Not being in use or not being in use by virtue of a property or personal right. No one is registered at an address and no user or economic activity is known. Being unoccupied. So, now that the definition of housing vacancy is clear what can be seen as structural housing vacancy. While there are three primary different classifications of housing vacancy being friction vacancy, mutation vacancy and structural vacancy. Where friction vacancy is necessary for the proper functioning of the housing market, time between tenants or seller and buyer, this has a duration of maximum a year most of the time. Next one is mutation vacancy what is more for the change of the tenants where the previous tenants make preparations of the house for the new tenant. This has a duration mostly of just a few months with a maximum of a year. And now following structural vacancy what is vacancy of a house that for various reasons is not occupied, this has a duration of longer than a year being vacant. So, what is structural housing vacancy it is a house that for various reasons is not being occupied. With no one being registered and no user activity is known. For a duration longer than one year. There can be some confusion with structural vacancy and uninhabitable houses because these both have been unoccupied for more than a year. And is often associated with each other.

Uninhabitable houses are houses that lack the basic functionality and are not safe and poses a danger to the safety and health of residents. These cases have to be looked at by people from the enforcement department. And need different strategies and policies than what is named in this policy advice plan for structural vacant houses. A clear definition and classification for structural housing vacancy are essential for the clarification of the problem that this policy advice plan is trying to address.

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The existing tools that are being used are the excel sheet and the letter of vacancy that is being sent with it, the geoportal that can shows on a map where the vacancy is and the fixi notification that is used by the residents.

8.3.1. Excel Sheet The Excel sheet covers the address of vacancy and since when the house has been vacant and who the owner of the vacant house is. The department of licensing and taxation started with gathering this information and making the excel in 2024. And from there on out would start sending letters asking why the house is vacant and what the homeowners plan is with the house. From the replies they made notes in the excel, however some homeowners have not replied to the letter or very unclear. For these people a follow-up is required.

8.3.2. Geoportal The geoportal is a place where different maps can be seen for the people intern of the Municipality. On the geoportal there is currently a map that looks at housing vacancy however this is not updated on a regular basis and from looking at the map it could not directly be seen when it was lastly made. The geoportal does have potential if it can be combined with the excel that if it automatically updates the map will update as well that can show different information that could help in identifying problem areas and comparing the data with the zoning plans.

8.3.3. Fixi Notification The fixi notification that is for residents of the Municipality of Waalwijk. This comes in the form of a website or an app on the phone. Where residents can report things that bother them from their living environment. Such as a broken lamppost or litter. However, what people may not be aware of is that they can also report housing vacancy on here. This has not happened before with the fixi notification however it can happen. The enforcement department can than forward the issue to the right people to see what is happening. With this it can also be looked at houses that are not administratively vacant and see what maybe the issue is than.

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8.3.4. Strategies Closing the Gaps With these current approaches there are gaps for that there has been nine strategies created that could help this matter. The strategies are explored in the research to see what the proposed actions for it is, their expected impact and what the potential challenges could be. The strategies are briefly summarized in the following: •

• •

•

•

•

•

• •

Communication with homeowners: Aims to engage actively with the homeowners, to understand why the homes are vacant and try to encourage them to re-occupy. With first the letter of vacancy, followed by a phone call or a meeting and possibly a site visit where someone from the Municipality try to stimulate the owner to take action on re-occupying the house. Communication to residents: focuses on informing the residents that the Municipality of Waalwijk is looking into structural housing vacancy. And encourage the residents to also help contribute by reporting it on fixi if they suspect a structurally vacant house. Fixi notification: by having a suggestion of structurally vacant houses as something that can be reported on fixi, residents are aware that they can notify it to the Municipality and can serve as extra eyes on the streets. This is part of citizen involvement and help uncover vacancy that are not administratively identified. Geoportal: involves more regularly or automatically updating the digital map to visualize and track structural vacant houses. This can help in monitoring and seeing hotspots that may need interventions. And also, being able to see how the structural vacant houses may fit in with the zoning plans.

Internal communication: aims on the improvement on the collaboration between the departments of the Municipality with the sharing of information with teams that are interested in the structural housing vacancy. This ensures that no double work is done and there is coherence in the Municipality on the structural housing vacancy. Excel Sheet: is a central part in seeing what is structurally vacant. What can be a shared tool for the tracking as well of what is happening at the structural vacant house. This tool helps keeping the data consistence, and accurate updates can be noted down here to see UpToDate information. Task distribution: is focussed on clearly assigning roles and responsibilities between the departments regarding structural housing vacancy. So, the workload can be spread out also, depending where the capacity lies in the departments. And this can also prevent gaps and overlap of the work. Uninhabitable houses: This is more to explain that different legal and policy approaches are required if this is the problem. It focuses on the definition and categorization is important to assess the properties and determine if the house is liveable. Vacancy ordinance: discusses the potential on introducing a vacancy ordinance, to have a more legally requirement to the homeowners.

However, implementing the vacancy ordinance requires more significant capacity across the departments and may only be worth it if it is combined with the experiment. And needs a large sum of money per year to upkeep the vacancy ordinance.

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8.4. Insights from the Analysis The insights from the research and the analysis that was done in the research about the structural housing vacancy in the Municipality of Waalwijk. Shows that structural housing vacancy is not caused by one single factor, however by a combination of the conditions, the ownership and reasons on why it is vacant. It can be seen in the maps that there are no big clusters to really focus on the spatial analysis and that it is more spread out. The insights that are important for the Municipality of Waalwijk is what can be the factors that can cause the structural housing vacancy in Waalwijk. How much vacancy is within the Municipality. And how long have been houses vacant and what is their reason of vacancy now. This information all helps when looking what the policy advice strategy would work best for the Municipality of Waalwijk to implement.

8.4.2. Structural Housing Vacancy in Numbers When looking at the numbers regarding the structural housing vacancy what is mentioned at the CBS and what is found in the research on the structural housing vacancy there is quite a big difference. However, with the numbers used by CBS it is uncertain if it is only structural housing vacancy or maybe also friction or mutation vacancy. These new numbers show that the structural housing vacancy is not that high compared what is thought. This is visible in the table 8.1 where the numbers are shown per district.

8.4.1. Factors that can Cause Housing Vacancy There had been multiple factors explored that could cause the housing vacancy. For the Municipality of Waalwijk the vacancy over the different housing vacancy classifications would most likely be one of the following that can happen over the years. This would be administrative vacancy, bridging, family circumstances, physical interventions, secondary and seasonal use and speculation. For the first few factors it can be more easily asked and seen when talking with the homeowners however the most difficult one is speculation what is the one that is no real reason just homeowners waiting for the value of the house to go up before selling it. With speculation it is most important to stimulate the owner to bring the house back to the housing market instead of leaving it empty. As will also be seen further is that the other factors will be included in the reasons residents also give on the structural housing vacancy.

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Districts

Total houses

Vacant houses

Vacancy percentage

Percentage CBS 2024

Waalwijk

16099

58

0.36%

1.99%

Sprang-Capelle

4162

32

0.77%

3.12%

Waspik

2267

16

0.71%

1.76%

Total in the Municipality

22528

106

0.47%

2.18%

8.4.3. Duration and Reasons of Structural Housing Vacancy The structural vacant houses maps shown some revealing things with houses in districts being over 10 years vacant in all districts at least one of them. With more than half of all the structurally vacant houses being 3 years or less vacant. And about 56 of all the vacant houses have given a good reason of being vacant with most of them being in renovation or is the case of it being a second home. See table 8.2 There are also people that filled in the form but did not inform more only told it was vacant for these responses a follow up is required and most likely need to be stimulated in taking action. The rest of the structurally vacant houses can be that no letter is sent yet or that the owners did not respond for these also the follow ups have to happen.

Table 8.1 Number and percentage of the structural housing vacancy in Waalwijk compared with CBS. Created by (de Bresser, 2025).

More zooming in on a neighbourhood level it is difficult to really see where clusters are, what can be seen is the most prominent areas with the most vacancy in the districts is see figure 8.1 Number of vacant houses per neighbourhood. In the Centrum, Capelle / Nieuwe Vaart, and Waspik Beneden. In the Centrum most of the structural vacant houses are apartments, what also reflects with it being more high-density housing and having mix functions. In the neighbourhood Capelle / Nieuwe Vaart it has more average older houses compared to the rest of the district and is mostly owned by private owners. Ands lastly in Waspik Beneden it is more aligned with the high number of vacancy with it being more than half of the houses in the neighbourhood than the whole district.

Total in Municipality of Waalwijk

With in table 8.3 a summary of the total percentage of vacancy per the Netherlands, all the vacancy in the Municipality of Waalwijk (friction, mutation, and structural housing vacancy), the total percentage of all the structural vacant houses. And the structurally vacant houses with no valid reason given (yet).

Administrative vacancy

Bridging

Family Physical circumstance interventions

5

13

1

15

Secondary valid use explained vacancy 11 9

Unclear reasons

No Other Reply

12

38

2

Table 8.2 Number of structural vacant houses with the reasons in Waalwijk. Created by (de Bresser, 2025).

Where and what vacant

Percentage of vacancy

The Netherlands

2%

All the vacancy in the Municipality of Waalwijk

2.18%

Structural housing vacancy in the Municipality of Waalwijk

0.47%

Non valid, or no reasons on structural housing vacancy in the Municipality of Waalwijk

0.22%

Table 8.3 Summary of the percentage of housing vacancy within Waalwijk. Created by (de Bresser, 2025).

Figure 8.1 Number of Structural vacant houses per neighbourhood. Created by (de Bresser, 2025).

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8.5. Policy Advice Strategies So, from the analysis there have been five policy advice strategies developed for addressing the structural housing vacancy. These proposed policy advice strategies is structured around the clusters that can be formed with the previous nine strategies from the research. These policies are written in order what is found most to least important for the Municipality of Waalwijk to implement. With the first three policy advice strategies being the main ones that are preferably implemented from the results of the research that has been conducted. With it being based on the tools that can be used that helps with seeing where and how much vacancy there is. At the internal coordination within the Municipality, and how the Municipality can interact and inform the homeowners and the residents. And then the last two that is focused on the vacancy ordinance and to implement it in the Municipality of Waalwijk, and the uninhabitable houses, what can be done with these houses based on the information that was researched and gathered.

8.5.1. Visualisation of Vacancy An important insight from the research is that vacancy is spread out over the Municipality and no big clusters can be seen. With the total of structural vacant houses being 0.47% for the whole Municipality is it not that much. The visualization of vacancy makes sure the Municipality of Waalwijk has a constant idea on what is vacant and how long it has been vacant and the reasons it may be vacant. This policy advice strategy ensures that efforts would be focused on an area where it would make an impact. This is done with the following policies:

• Excel: The excel sheet shall act as main data base for the collection of the structural vacant houses. Ensuring all the information per vacant house is linked with an owner and information and reasons were given per the structural vacant house. • Geoportal: The geoportal will be used as the main visual visualizer for the mapping of the structural vacant houses. Where different information can be shown on different layers on the map. To be able to identify cases in zones that may require more attention.

8.5.2. Coordination in the Municipality A significant issue from the research was that internal communication and coordination was lacking between the departments of the Municipality. Where other departments and teams also had an interest in housing vacancy and had a small system already set up. This system is based on looking into how many vacant houses there are within the Municipality of Waalwijk and how long it has been vacant and what the reason may be for the vacancy. This system was not known

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by other departments that also have an interest in the structural housing vacancy. This policy advice strategy ensures that the coordination between the departments and teams would be more discussed and informed, so no double work is being done. This is done with the following policies on the page on the right:

• Task division: There shall be a clear division of roles between departments in what is shared and happening. This is done to ensure the capacity that is available per team is not overworked, and every team has a specific task that they are accountable for in the reducing of the structural housing vacancy. • Shared information: on the data bases and a shared Microsoft Teams environment will be the main way information is shared between the departments with updates on the structural vacant houses on what is happening. And where questions and contacts can be made internal if something is unclear on a vacant house what is happening. • Meetings: There will be meetings happening across the different teams and departments twice a year to discuss the changes that may have happened and the task division and information so everyone that has something to do with housing vacancy is known what the other teams also are contributing. This will also happen to evaluate the processes how the systems are working and discuss issues that were encountered.

8.5.3. Vacancy Communication To be open and transparent to residents is also something that is a key for the Municipality, this involves within this policy advice strategy informing the residents of the Municipality of Waalwijk on the structural housing vacancy and seeing how the residents can be also the eyes on the street for the Municipality to see what may be structural vacant house, that is not vacant administrative. Communication is not only directed as information to the residents but also to communicate with the homeowners that have a house left empty for more than a year. This communication is a key to see where someone from the Municipality of Waalwijk can stimulate and encourage the homeowner to bring the house back into use. This is done with the following policies:

• Letter of vacancy: After it seen that a homeowner left a house structurally vacant a letter will be sent asking if it is vacant, why it is vacant and extra information. This letter currently covers the most important questions. If extra information is required, then the homeowners will get a call to inquire more about the vacant house. During that call if the impression is given the homeowner doesn’t want to do anything about the vacancy, then someone from the Municipality tries to stimulate them and encourage them to use the house with a few different options that are possible. The eventual effort has to come from the homeowner. • Follow-up: If after the first letter has been send and no answer was given then every month after the first letter a reminder follow up letter will be sent up to three times. If then there has still been no reply, then an alternative method of giving a call, an email or if nothing helps a visit to the alleged structural vacant house. • Fixi notification: Can also be used by residents to report suspected structural housing vacancy. It is also part of something that can influence the living environment for people if a house is structurally vacant. Making residents aware that this can also be reported is thus important to have the eyes on the street for houses that are structurally vacant however not administrative vacant.

• Website: for having the residence informed on what is happening on the structural housing vacancy there should be a page explaining what the Municipality sees as structural housing vacancy. And that the data that is shown by CBS is a year older than the current situation and it shows also what is in the friction vacancy. Lastly on the page there should be referred that if a resident suspects a structural vacant house that they can do a Fixi notification on that.

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8.5.4. Vacancy Ordinance The policy advice strategy of vacancy ordinance is included for it being the legal measures that can be taken towards structural housing vacancy. However, this policy strategy is not one that would be very helpful for the Municipality of Waalwijk. This includes the same steps as in the previous policy advice strategies that were discussed however, now it is with a set followed system and structure that puts more pressure on the homeowners of the structurally vacant houses. And also, more effort is required from the Municipality of Waalwijk to ensure that happens. With just the vacancy ordinance it is seen by many municipalities that it did not succeed as expected however doing it combined with the experiment under the environment Act. It gives the Municipality the option to really hand out fines if nothing is being done. The third step that would follow as well in the vacancy ordinance is nominate a user, this can be seen as not realistic because the Municipality is not a real estate agent for people. This policy advice strategy would not be best for smaller municipalities than the big cities. With also how Utrecht and Tilburg mentioned the large sum of money that is required and the capacity in the Municipality that is needed, for the vacancy ordinance to work.

If the vacancy ordinance would be implemented (preferably not) than it has to be done with the following policies:

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8.5.5. Uninhabitable Houses • Procedure: the vacancy ordinance follows a specific procedure that has to be set with the steps that are going to be followed, how the Municipality takes the step. With the notifying of the vacancy, conversation with the owner and user nomination. And how what department plays a role in it. With frameworks, timelines, information on the buildings, and making a vacancy decision. • Notify: The owner has 6 months time since a house has been vacant to notify it. This can be seen as too early for some that are doing big renovations. If they do not report than there can be an administrative fine send. • Conversation: After 3 months of the notifying a conversation happens with the owner. Looking what is the reason of vacancy and if the house is ‘suitable for use’. The Municipality then draws up a vacancy decision on what was talked about with the owner. The owner than has 12 since the house has been vacant months time to follow the decision and occupy the house. • User nomination: If the 12 months since vacant are over the Municipality nominate a user that can live in the house that is liveable. The owner than has 3 months to make the necessary renovations and let the nominated user live there or find their own buyer, renter etc. • Experiment: with the experiment it is possible to have the deadlines on notifying and having a conversation shortened.

It is then also a possibility to have a shorter deadline on the vacancy decision that the owner has to follow. It that is not done than a fine can also be imposed. This would bring the most impact if a vacancy ordinance is implemented. • Evaluated: the vacancy ordinance has to be annually evaluated as part of the whole broad strategy to see if some legal matters did not change and it is still feasible and proportional to the goals and visions of the Municipality of Waalwijk.

The policy advice strategy on Uninhabitable houses is based on ideas from discussions and bit of research. This policy advice strategy needs to be more researched if it is preferred to see what the more reliable options are on this matter. Because as it was explained in the 2 chapter of what is structural housing vacancy, Uninhabitable houses are often seen similar but need a different approach. An uninhabitable house is most of the time unsafe and not liveable and need excessive amount of renovations what can be wasting resources. This policy advice strategy should be taken into consideration when encountering uninhabitable houses, if no research or own strategies have been developed for this problem than try it with the following policies:

• Excel: The houses that are uninhabitable and not safe to live in will be removed from the structural housing vacancy database. And moved to its own excel database where it would make it more clear that these houses cannot be lived in until serious measures are taken. • Demolition: The uninhabitable is that far gone to see only profitable option to demolish it and built a new house in return this requires a major investment from the homeowner and needs to be done more careful, because of the unsafe condition the house is already in. • Buyout: If the owner sees no way of working with the uninhabitable house than it is also an option for the Municipality to buyout the house and improve or construct where possible and seem fit. • Real estate agents: Encouraging the homeowner to go search for real estate agents that want to help with an unsafe unliveable house to sell is also an option to refer the homeowner to however, the Municipality cannot say what real estate agent the homeowner should look at. They need to be encouraged for them self to taken action towards that. • Renovations: asking for multiple subsidies that can be provided for the renovations as well as a bit of the homeowners money to see how far the renovations can take it to make the house again liveable and safe for someone to live in. This can take tons of money from the homeowner.

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8.6. Implementation To ensure this policy advice plan for the Municipality of Waalwijk can become realised the time of implementation is also included. This will be phased over a short-, medium- and long-term timeline. Each phase will be built upon the previous phase with here and there some exceptions. The timeline may overlap and can also change this is more an estimate of how many months it all would take. The Short-term focus will be based on the policy advice strategies that can settle in about 0 up to 3 months: • Coordination in the Municipality: Creating the teams environment and planning the annual meetings that can happen as well as discussing the first task division between the departments. • Vacancy Communication: Developing the webpage that informs residents about the structural housing vacancy and informing that the fixi notification can also be used for notifying about structural housing vacancy. As well as creating a system how to talk with the homeowners.

The Medium-term will be based as well on the policy advice strategy that can take about 3 up to 9 months • Visualisation of Vacancy: Have the excel fully functional and up and running for all the departments to be able to use the excel and connecting the excel to the geoportal so information can easily be automatised in the geoportal with the multiple layers on the map can be shown to create the spatial strategies. The Long-term will as well be based on the policy advice strategies that can take about 12 up to 18 months or beyond • Vacancy ordinance: Have the full-on vacancy ordinance made and coordinated on what the plans are for it with the departments and have all the dilemmas that may occur set on what the take is on it. As well as if it is with the experiment the fines have to be clear when applied and all. • Uninhabitable houses: Needs more effort on how it can go to houses because it is not part of the term structural vacant houses. Needs different Acts and be more safe for the people and living environment.

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9. Conclusion The main aim of this research was to discover the reason of structural housing vacancy and also map out where in the Municipality of Waalwijk the vacancy is and what can be proposed as feasible interventions that can encourage the reoccupation. This was done by answering the main research question of; How can the Municipality of Waalwijk effectively address structural housing vacancy to reoccupy housing? To reach this conclusion the findings from the sub-questions first will be summarized.

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The first sub-question explored, What is vacancy? And how can vacant houses be categorized within the Municipality of Waalwijk? Well vacancy is for this research and case of Waalwijk; Not being in use or not being in use by virtue of a property or personal right. No one is registered at an address and no user or economic activity is known. Being unoccupied. And the vacant houses can be categorised in three ways friction, mutation and structural housing vacancy. Where friction and mutation vacancy are mostly less than a year and is needed to have a proper functioning of the housing market. And Structural vacancy what the continued focus of the research is, is a house that for various reasons is not occupied for a duration of longer than a year. And What legal and policy frameworks influence the re-occupation of structural vacant residential buildings to housing? The Vacancy Act is the most important Act that can influence vacancy. This Act enables municipalities to regulate vacancy by having the vacancy ordinance, as well as allow owners to apply for temporary letting. Other Acts also play a role however, more in the vacancy management. With that being the Housing Act, Squatting and Vacancy Act, the Crisis and Recovery Act, The Landlords Good Practices Act, the Affordable Rent Act. With some of these now being part of the Environmental Act.

What is the main reason for structural housing vacancy in Municipality Waalwijk? Structural housing vacancy reasons can be influenced by various factors, where for Waalwijk the ones that would apply the most is Administrative vacancy, Bridging, Family circumstances, Physical interventions, Secondary and Seasonal use and Speculation. Where these factors are all applicable for Waalwijk the main reasons that was being said by homeowners is the physical interventions of renovations and secondary and seasonal use with owning a second home. What tools and examples form other cases can be used to reduce the structural vacant housing? The tools that can be used to reduce the structural vacant houses is the Excel sheets, with the Geoportal and the Fixi notifications. That can all help visualise, map out and monitor in their own ways where the structural housing vacancy is. And the examples form other cases is how the Municipality of Amsterdam and Utrecht are working with the vacancy ordinance under the experiment and how Tilburg is preparing themselves for the vacancy ordinance with the experiment with still a few dilemmas. And with the international cases of the Flanders Belgium, and the United Kingdom where for them it works best with a vacancy tax. Where the owner has to prove it is not vacant instead of the Municipality.

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What are the best strategies to decrease the structural housing vacancy? For the Municipality of Waalwijk the best strategies to decrease the structural housing vacancy is not ending at one single strategy but it needs to form a combination of them with seeing how informal and formal the Municipality wants to handle it with the homeowners. The strategies that can be used that is best for the Municipality of Waalwijk is Excel sheet, Geoportal, Communication to homeowners, Internal communication, Task division, Fixi notification, Communication to residents, Vacancy ordinance and then Uninhabitable houses. And the last sub-question that is How can a policy advice plan look for effective reoccupation of structural vacant residential buildings to housing? This is displayed in chapter 7 how the policy advice plan is made up and focused on the problem of the structural housing vacancy in the Municipality of Waalwijk. And how the Municipality of Waalwijk look at this problem on structural housing vacancy to help bring it in to view on what to do about it. With an introduction to the problem, explanation of the terminology, what the Municipality already is doing for it. And what is discovered in the analysis on what is vacant and the policy advice plan strategies that they can implement and lastly a timeline of how long the implementation can take per policy advice strategy.

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So, now back to the main research question of How can the Municipality of Waalwijk effectively address structural housing vacancy to reoccupy housing? The Municipality of Waalwijk can effectively address structural housing vacancy by using the tools of the Excel sheet and geoportal to monitor and map out the structural housing vacancy. Have proactive communication with the homeowners and residents to stimulate them and to get eyes on the street with also the Fixi notification. Have intern communication and collaboration in tasks within the Municipality so the capacity of one team does not overload and internal in the Municipality the teams also know who is also working on structural housing vacancy. And if these ways are not working than the vacancy ordinance can be implemented with it being preferred under the experiment and get a different way to look at the uninhabitable houses. Well after mapping out and seeing the structural housing vacancy in the Municipality of Waalwijk, it became clear that the current level of vacancy is relatively low compared to the average of the Netherlands of 2%, with only 0.47% of structural housing vacancy in the Municipality of Waalwijk and 0.22% with no valid reason given (yet). See table 9.1 Summary of the percentage of housing vacancy within Waalwijk.

Maintaining good contact with the homeowner and bring stimulating measures should be sufficient in most cases to encourage the reoccupying of the structural vacant house.

Where and what vacant

Percentage of vacancy

The Netherlands

2%

All the vacancy in the municipality of Waalwijk

2.18%

Structural housing vacancy in the municipality of Waalwijk

0.47%

Non valid, or no reasons on structural housing vacancy in the municipality of Waalwijk

0.22%

Table 9.1 Summary of the percentage of housing vacancy within Waalwijk. Created by (de Bresser, 2025).

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10. Discussion This research gave a focus on how the Municipality of Waalwijk can effectively address structural housing vacancy to reoccupy into housing. Still, there are things that could have made the analysis more complete. This can be not included because of time limitations or a different way of looking and thinking might be required, or it was not fully into the scope of the research incorporated but can be important for it.

One of these things that wasn’t included in the current analysis is comparing the data with energy or water usage of a house in the Municipality. With this it could also be looked at the house if it is actively being used and thus really vacant or just administrative vacant. A low to no usage sign of the energy or water utilities can also confirm if the house is actually vacant. And can help see what is not administratively vacant but maybe vacant according to the energy and water usage.

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Another point is that with the analysis not real spatial patterns and clusters could be identified because of the structurally vacant being spread out and no real area stood out for it. Because of this it was harder to look into spatial strategies or focus areas for the policy advice plan.

During the research it became also clear that uninhabitable houses form a whole different category. These houses often have more serious problems such as safety for the living environment or not being liveable at all. A separate approach would be needed here. Something that can be for future research on how to reoccupy uninhabitable houses. Lastly while this research is focused on the Municipality of Waalwijk, many of the ideas or tools might also work for other municipalities that are facing similar issues. Not every solution might fit everywhere, but the combination of the mapping of the vacancy the communication intern and with residents and homeowners can be adjusted to other local contexts too. With the vacancy tax that is found useful from Flanders, Belgium and the United Kingdom, might be something for the national government to look further into in order to also take the pressure off the municipalities and put it more on the homeowners.

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