There has been a steep rise in permits for temporary housing in 2022 compared to 2021, latest figures from national statistics agency CBS have shown.

Local councils issued permits for almost 3,300 temporary homes in 2022, a 43% increase on the preceding year. A total of around 10,000 temporary homes were made available over the last four years.

Temporary houses, or flexwoningen, are small, often moveable units used to house people who have nowhere else to go. Most of the houses were new builds but temporary accommodation was also created by converting existing buildings such as office blocks.

In 2019 most of the homes were lived in by students but this year the bulk of the  accommodation was allocated to seasonal workers, immigrant workers, people who have been given refugee status and (Ukrainian) refugees.

The province that granted the largest number of temporary home permits was Noord-Brabant while Flevoland issued hardly any, the figures showed.

The government has pledged to build 15,000 temporary homes this year but their location can be a problem for some local councils. In May, a third of 2,000 prefabricated houses had not been put up because local councils did not want them.

Temporary houses can be moved form place to place and have a life expectancy of 10 to 15 years, which makes them unattractive to investors, urban planning academy Scobe said. It also warned legal problems may delay the plans.