Custom homes
Zoetermeer has a number of wheelchair- and obstacle-free homes or homes with adaptations. All these homes belong to the category of 'adapted homes'. They are suitable for persons who, because of a handicap, are dependent on a dwelling in which - in view of that handicap - specific facilities have been installed.
Since different medical situations require different adjustments, the Wmo department of the Zoetermeer municipality helps determine how a request for assistance should be answered. For example, they assess whether a request for help leads to a placement on the mediation list for a wheelchair home. This method ensures an optimal distribution of the (scarce) houses and tries to find a suitable solution for every request for help. If you wish to submit a notification for a request for help, you can do so using the Wmo notification form. You will be contacted by the Wmo department. After investigation, the department will then issue a recommendation.
If you are advised to live in a level or rollator home, you can look for such a home yourself through Woonnet Haaglanden. You should always allow for a waiting period before a suitable home becomes available. Is your housing situation life threatening or life disrupting? Then you can apply for a priority declaration from the Zoetermeer Priority Declaration Review Committee (TVZ). The municipality has developed an online questionnaire that you can use to check to what extent you seem to qualify for a priority declaration. You can find this questionnaire here. The priority declaration gives you 3 months priority over other house seekers on Woonnet Haaglanden. In order to get a priority declaration for an adapted house you need a Wmo advice for this type of house. Without this advice the TVZ cannot give you a priority declaration for a suitable home.
If you are advised to live in wheelchair housing, you are eligible for mediation. The municipality of Zoetermeer cooperates with the housing corporations Stedelink (formerly Vestia), Vidomes and De Goede Woning in the distribution of these houses. When a wheelchair home becomes available, the housing corporation notifies the municipality. The municipality indicates who are suitable candidates for the vacant wheelchair home. The housing corporation will invite you for a viewing via Woonnet Haaglanden, with which you must be registered. You cannot apply for a priority declaration for a wheelchair house (this is also not necessary).
It may also be possible to modify your current home to accommodate your physical limitations. When the municipality arranges or reimburses a home modification for you, this is also called a "housing provision. The municipality of Zoetermeer reimburses only the cheapest solution. If the municipality decides that you are eligible for compensation, there are two options: care in kind or a personal budget. In the case of care in kind, the municipality will arrange the adjustment for you. Some residential facilities (such as a stairlift) are provided on loan.
For more information about assigning adapted housing or adapting your own home, contact the Wmo Department.