“Making homes more sustainable is for everyone, but not accessible to everyone.” The Warm Home initiative should therefore help residents of Zwolle with meager incomes to make their homes more sustainable. Finy Bakker is one of those who will be helped with this subsidy.
“Yes, I am very happy with it. I couldn’t have done it myself,” Finy says enthusiastically. At her home, a handyman is at work making the house more energy efficient.
With the Warm Home grant, she doesn’t have to pay anything for that work. And that’s nice, especially with the knowledge that energy bills are getting higher and higher and the winter months are coming. In addition to Finy, more than 2210 residents of Zwolle have now been helped to insulate their homes.
Saved a few tens per month
Energy coaches help with that process. In doing so, they not only look at the little things, but also take the entire state of the home into consideration when looking at home subsidies. In this case, Finy’s house will be fitted with radiator foil and draft strips at the doors. For poorly insulated owner-occupied homes, the measures may be larger, such as by installing double-glazing or insulating the facades.
After the work, Finy’s house is already much better insulated. On a monthly basis, measures like that can already have a big impact. “I think it’s going to save a few tens per month anyway,” Finy estimates.
Not accessible to everyone
Daniëlle Kienhuis of Warm Home Zwolle: “Energy bills are getting higher. That was also the reason for this project. But also because we just want to help everyone in Zwolle, even if you have a small budget. Increasing sustainability is for everyone, but is not accessible to everyone in terms of finances.”
That is why in 2022 Stichting Voor Elkaar Zwolle, neighborhood initiatives in the neighborhoods and the Zwolle housing corporations, among others, joined forces under the name Warm Home.
Councilman Arjan Spaans is pleased with the initiative. “Always handy, especially now that it’s getting colder. And especially for the older homes I say: do it.” He emphasizes that the quality of life improves considerably with this kind of action and that people can sometimes save hundreds of euros per month.
The grant continues until the end of 2026. Kienhuis: “How it runs after that is still a question, but we are definitely discussing that.”
Source: RTV Oost