Exploding house prices and a lack of social housing: the housing shortage has not been as great since the Second World War as it is now. Housing policy needs to be overhauled. That is what the organization of the national housing protest that starts this afternoon at 2 p.m. in Amsterdam’s Westerpark.
It is one of the first times since the 80s that the Dutch go up against the barricades housing shortage. “It doesn’t surprise me,” says Peter Boelhouwer, professor of the housing market at TU Delft. “I have been thinking for years: where is the social discontent? There was more resistance in the 1980s, while the situation is now more hopeless.”
unequal struggle
According to experts, the housing crisis is one of the biggest social problems of our time. There is a shortage of around 300,000 homes, waiting times for social housing are long and overbidding by a ton is no longer an exception for the owner-occupied houses that are available. At the same time, its consequences are unevenly distributed.
“For some – the outsiders – is the housing crisis, and for others – the insiders – no problem at all. They profit from rising house prices and invest in a second home. That battle has always been uneven, but the number of outsiders is now increasing considerably,” says Boelhouwer.
The tightness in the housing market is mainly felt by first-time buyers, experts say. “But in general, everyone without an owner-occupied home and who cannot go to social housing is the victim,” says housing market economist Stefan Groot at Rabobank.
Multipurpose sample
There is no quick solution to the heated housing market, the experts say. Still, a protest could pay off, in the form of political attention. “There are solutions,” says Groot. “Such as building extra homes. This does require structural political policy, while we have a caretaker cabinet. I am curious whether people dare to do something, because that is necessary.”
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