Housing minister Mona Keijzer, housing corporations, developers and investors have signed an agreement aimed at speeding up the construction of new housing and meeting government targets of 100,000 new homes a year.

The deal was signed after months of talks and a “housing summit” on Wednesday, during which the final changes were made to the pledge. Tenants’ lobby group Woonbond and the pension fund association did not sign the deal.

Keijzer is continuing the previous government’s commitment to build 100,000 new homes a year, of which 66% will be affordable rentals (up to €1156) or owner occupier properties with a price up to €39,000 – amounts which will rise every year.

By 2029 at the latest, some 30,000 social housing units, with rents up to €880 by current prices, should be included in that total.

“If people now say it can’t be done, I will say ‘Look back to the deal we made on December 11′. It can be done,” Keijzer said.

The minister said earlier that she planned to slash red tape surrounding construction projects and has already scrapped the requirement that all new projects include bat and bird boxes.

Deals have also been made on building 75,000 homes in Utrecht, Lisserbroek, Nieuw-Vennep West, and Lansingerland as a matter of priority. Housing corporations have also agreed to increase their new projects to 30,000 homes a year from 2029.

In addition, Keijzer plans to take “the gigantic step” of relaxing the rules for building in the area around Schiphol, where possible “without impacting on the airport’s space”, the Financieele Dagblad reported.  Those changes will be published in six months.

The cabinet is committed to spending €7.5 billion on realizing the agreement, of which €5 billion will go on construction and €2.5 billion on infrastructure. This, the ministry says, is on top of the €12.5 billion already allocated to boosting the housing supply.