Demise of the Dutch social housing tradition: impact of budget cuts and political changes

State-led Gentrification and the Changing Geography of Market-oriented Housing Policies

“…Yet from the 1990s onwards, the promotion of homeownership has gained greater currency at the national level, at the cost of social renting. A key event in this regard was the cutting of financial ties between housing associations and governments in 1995, officially eradicating state support for social housing 3 (Boelhouwer and Priemus 2014;Aalbers, van Loon, and Fernandez 2017). Housing associations did, however, remain important players in urban development, as is evidenced by their important role in cooperating in various urban renewal policies initiated since then (Uitermark 2014).…”

“…The sale of social housing, rent liberalization, and the introduction of temporary contracts are all policy measures to enhance the housing opportunities of middle income, relatively young, and upwardly mobile households. This is partially the consequence of the national government's enforcement of EU regulations in 2011, which stipulate that at least 90% of the social housing stock should be rented out to households earning below the €35,000 income limit, creating a housing shortage for those households earning more (Boelhouwer and Priemus 2014). While these policies may improve the housing opportunities of young households, they will also contribute to a residualization of the remaining regular stock with the consequence that housing opportunities for low income groups worsen (cf.…”

“…Housing associations work with a revolving fund, which means that extra income generated from increased rents or from social housing sales should be used for social purposes such as maintaining the existing stock or new-build developments. However, consecutive national government coalitions have sought to roll back the operations of housing associations, with the 2013 "landlord levy" being a recent example (Boelhouwer and Priemus 2014). The levy is a state-imposed austerity measure that taxes housing associations in order to transfer increased income from rents, and is part of a broader policy goal to set housing associations on a more sober trajectory (Nieboer and Gruis 2014).…”

“…Although the social housing stock is still rather large in the Netherlands, and even more so in Amsterdam, these new policies work towards the gradual residualization of the social housing stock (Van Duijne and Ronald 2016). Public spending on social housing is being trimmed and housing associations have to focus their activities on a more narrowly defined group of low income households (Van der Heijden 2002;Boelhouwer and Priemus 2014). These policies are partly the consequence of a longstanding ideological push towards homeownership (Ronald 2008) and crisis-related austerity measures (Boelhouwer and Priemus 2014).…”

Home ownership under changing labour and housing market conditions: tenure preferences and outcomes among freelancers and flex workers

“…As such, the Dutch social rental sector is considered relatively attractive by many households. However, the social rental sector has become more restricted in terms of qualification and allocation (in terms of income-based means testing) (see Boelhouwer & Priemus, 2014). It still serves a broad target group, but not as broad as it used to be.…”