A Municipal Responsibility, Not a Personal Allowance
The improvement and maintenance of public areas—including streets (straten), pavements (stoepen), parks, public lighting (openbare verlichting), and playgrounds (speeltuinen)—is the sole responsibility of the municipality (gemeente). This work is funded through general taxation. The concept of an 'allowance' or grant being given to a resident to carry out these improvements themselves does not exist. The system is based on the municipality providing these services as a core governmental function, not on subsidizing residents to do the work themselves.
How Tenants Can Influence Improvements
While tenants don't receive an allowance, they are not powerless and have several formal and informal channels to influence the quality of the public space in their neighborhood. 1. Reporting Problems (Melding Openbare Ruimte): Every municipality has a system (usually a phone number and an online portal or app) for residents to report issues like a broken paving stone, a malfunctioning streetlight, or overflowing public bins. This is a direct and effective way to get small problems fixed. 2. Formal Participation (Inspraak): When a municipality is planning a major redesign of a street or park, they are often legally required to hold a public consultation process (inspraakprocedure), where residents can view the plans and submit their opinions and suggestions. 3. Citizens' Initiatives (Burgerinitiatief): If residents have a proactive idea for an improvement, such as creating a new small park or installing traffic calming measures, they can gather signatures and submit a formal citizens' initiative to the municipal council. If the initiative gets enough support, the council is often required to consider it.
Distinguishing Public vs. Communal Areas
It is important to distinguish between public areas (the street, the park), which are the municipality's responsibility, and communal areas (a shared courtyard or garden inside an apartment complex), which are the private property of the landlord or VvE. The maintenance for these communal areas is paid for by the residents via their servicekosten, and improvements are decided by the owner(s).
