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 hous­ing, includ­ing the pro­mo­tion of home­own­er­ship, the devel­op­ment of social hous­ing, and the reg­u­la­tion of the rental market.

Today, more than 30% of the hous­ing stock belong to the social rental sec­tor, and 29,3% of all hous­es 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!