Hous­ing

The Neth­er­lands have a unique hous­ing tra­di­tion, in which the gov­ern­ment and the muni­cip­al­it­ies are major actors.

Ever since the passing of the Dutch Hous­ing Law in 1901, afford­able dwell­ings for all inhab­it­ants of the Neth­er­lands have been a nation­al pri­or­ity. The Dutch gov­ern­ment has imple­men­ted a num­ber of policies and ini­ti­at­ives to ensure that all cit­izens have access to high-qual­ity dwell­ing, includ­ing the pro­mo­tion of home own­er­ship, the devel­op­ment of social hous­ing, and the reg­u­la­tion of the rent­al mar­ket. Today, more than 30% of the stock belong to the social rent­al sec­tor, and 29,3% of all prop­er­ties are owned by cor­por­a­tions. The gov­ern­ment provides fund­ing to these organ­iz­a­tions to build and main­tain social hous­ing units, and it also reg­u­lates the rents charged to ensure that they remain afford­able. In the big cit­ies, how­ever, the sys­tem is under pres­sure. While Rot­ter­dam is try­ing to intro­duce more high-qual­ity dwell­ings, Ams­ter­dam attempts to guar­an­tee that res­id­en­tial pro­jects remain afford­able for middle income groups. There­fore the muni­cip­al­ity has issued the rule that all new res­id­en­tial pro­jects should con­tain 40% social, 40% mid-range and 20% up-mar­ket dwell­ings. Reg­u­la­tions of this type are pos­sible because 80% of the ground is owned by the muni­cip­al­ity. Find out more dur­ing one of our tours on housing!