“Amsterdam is not for sale,” exclaimed twenty people in De Pijp on Saturday afternoon. They are located in the Karel du Jardinstraat in front of – if we can believe the description on Funda – ‘unique starter home in the nicest area of Amsterdam’. The house of 40 square meters, for an asking price of 315,000 euros, is a former rental home of the Ymere housing association.
Action
Members of Action Group Not for Sale and Tenants’ Association De Pijp have been taking action since 2015 against the sale of social rental homes. They also hope to stop the sale of a social housing this Saturday. The apartment has been plastered with posters by the activists and there is ‘Not for sale’ inscribed on the house.
“Amsterdam must remain for everyone,” says Niki Fröhling. The artist has lived in Amsterdam for forty years and notices that money has played an increasingly important role in social society. “Then you exclude people. The city must remain for all classes and all origins. ”
For the 32nd Saturday in a row, except for Boxing Day, the activists are standing in front of a social rental home that is about to fall into the hands of private individuals. “We are very concerned,” says Boudewijn Rückert. The activists are concerned with the composition of the population, which is becoming less diverse as a result of development, but also with older residents who are being displaced.
People over 65
One-high houses, just like houses on the ground floor, are eligible for the scheme called Van Hoog Naar Laag. This means that people over 65 will have priority over an independent social rental home in the municipality of Amsterdam if their current home is on the second floor or higher and cannot be reached by a lift.
“But it is precisely those homes on lower floors that are popular with private individuals,” says Rückert. “There you can expand into the garden or add a cellar. The elderly are now being centrifuged away. We will not let that happen just like that. ”
While people are campaigning, a yup passes the crowd visibly irritated and slams his door, two houses away, hard. Moments later, he literally looks down at the activists from his balcony and shakes his head.
Appointments
Agreements have previously been made between the municipality, the corporations (united in the AFWC) and the tenant umbrella organizations (united in the FAH) about the number of social rental homes that may be sold and must be built. Rückert: “We mainly see that there is a lot of sales and that hardly any social rental homes are being added.
The activists, who all live in the area, are not the only ones to notice this. In February the municipality announced an unprecedented far-reaching action: the city plans to buy social rental housing to prevent them from ending up in the much more expensive, free sector. “We cannot do otherwise,” said alderman Laurens Ivens (Housing).
The municipality focuses on social rental homes that are put up for sale by corporations. With this, the coalition wants to maintain the number of affordable homes with a maximum monthly rent of 750 euros, something that is hardly successful in a boiling housing market.
Between 2011 and 2019, the number of housing association homes decreased from 195,000 to 179,600 and Amsterdammers wait an average of fifteen years for an affordable rental home.
Social rental housing
Ivens has agreed with the corporations that they will build 2500 social rental homes every year and also sell as few houses as possible. But that does not work. Last year, the construction of 2,270 housing association homes started and, on the other hand, some 1,000 social rental homes went up for sale.
“It makes me frustrated,” says 74-year-old Shelagh Geller. “I am here for the 32nd time and every time I am here with the same face. We just can’t get any further. ” Moments later, Geller comes up with another idea that she immediately introduces to the others: “Shouldn’t we just stand in front of the headquarters of a housing corporation on a weekday? We really need to be heard now. ”
Ymere
A spokesman for Ymere said on Saturday afternoon that it was a pity that people are only critical of the sale of social rental housing and rarely ask ‘why’ the houses are being sold.
“We cannot manage our budget by just renting out social housing. We have to build new houses, maintain existing houses and make them more sustainable. To pay for that, we sell homes, ”says the spokesperson, who immediately adds that Ymere has never sold as few homes as in recent years. “Because houses yield more, we reach our target budget sooner.”
According to Ymere, it is also possible that a house is sold if it no longer fits the housing association. Because they are too big, too expensive to maintain or ‘no longer fit into the strategy’. “But if the activists know of other ways to make sure that we can pay what is expected of us without selling houses, then let us know.”
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