Noord Ballot Guide: What the November Community Services Measures Mean for Residents

Noord voters will decide on three ballot measures this November that collectively could redirect more than 47 million euros in annual municipal spending toward community services. The measures, certified by the Noord Electoral Commission on 30 June 2026, cover social housing construction levies, a dedicated mental health crisis response unit, and a co-payment reform for home-based elder care. Each measure requires a simple majority to pass, and results would take effect from the 2027 fiscal year.

The timing reflects pressure that has been building on Noord's social infrastructure for several years. The municipality's 2025 Social Services Audit, published in March, found that crisis shelter capacity in Noord met only 61 percent of assessed demand during peak winter months. Simultaneously, the national government's revised block-grant formula, introduced under the Local Government Finance Act 2025, reduced Noord's discretionary social spending allocation by approximately 8.3 percent. That gap has pushed local advocacy groups and the Noord Social Policy Roundtable to push ballot-level solutions rather than wait for the next council budget cycle.

What Each Measure Would Change on the Ground

Measure A would impose a 0.4 percent levy on commercial property transactions above 500,000 euros within Noord's municipal boundary. The Noord Housing Authority projects this would generate roughly 19 million euros annually, earmarked exclusively for the construction of 340 new social housing units across three districts: Westerhaven, Molenwijk, and the Noorderplantsoen corridor. Families currently on the social housing waitlist, which stood at 2,814 households as of January 2026 according to the Housing Authority's quarterly register, would be the primary beneficiaries. The levy would not apply to residential sales.

Measure B would establish a Noord Mental Health Crisis Response Team, a civilian-led service operating alongside emergency services for non-violent psychiatric call-outs. Under the proposal, the team would be funded at 11.2 million euros per year drawn from a reallocation within the existing public safety budget. Policy analysts who have reviewed comparable programmes in other northern European municipalities note that civilian crisis response units typically reduce emergency department presentations for psychiatric cases by 20 to 30 percent over a five-year period, though outcomes vary significantly by deployment model. For Noord residents, the practical effect would be that a call to the municipal helpline for a mental health emergency could be met by a trained clinician and social worker rather than uniformed officers.

Measure C addresses elder care co-payments. Noord currently charges a sliding-scale contribution for home-based care services under the Wet maatschappelijke ondersteuning (Wmo) framework. The measure would cap weekly co-payments at 19 euros for residents with a household income below 175 percent of the social minimum, a threshold the Noord Welfare Office estimates covers roughly 4,100 of the 6,700 residents currently receiving Wmo home-care services. The projected annual cost of the cap to the municipality is 16.8 million euros, funded by a combination of a council reserve draw and a proposed increase in the overnight parking levy in the central district.

How the Process Works and What Comes Next

The Noord Electoral Commission has set the official voter information period from 1 September to 3 November 2026. Residents will receive a plain-language summary of each measure by post no later than 15 September, as required under the Noord Referendum Ordinance of 2019. Public information sessions are scheduled at the Groninger Forum on 14 and 28 October, with a third session at the Paddepoel community centre on 21 October for residents in the northern districts.

If all three measures pass, Noord's social services directorate has indicated it would begin procurement and staffing processes in January 2027, with the first new social housing units expected to reach occupancy by late 2028. If any measure fails, the funding gap identified in the March audit would fall back to the council's annual budget deliberations, the next of which is scheduled for February 2027. Voters can check their registration status and polling location through the Noord Gemeente portal using their burgerservicenummer.