“The Impact of Rent Allowance Cuts on Low-Income Tenants and the Food Bank”

A painful cut that cannot be explained, according to the Woonbond and Aedes. “It is ironic to take the money needed for, among other things, the Affordable Rent Act away from the people with the lowest incomes,” says Aedes chairman Martin van Rijn. “Especially at this time.”

Food Bank

Zeno Winkels, the director of the Woonbond, agrees. He accuses the government of making an increasing group of tenants dependent on the food bank with this measure.

The austerity measure is included in the Spring Memorandum and should take effect from 2025. This concerns the step-by-step reversal of an increase in rent allowance of almost 17 euros, which the cabinet implemented at the beginning of this year.

That gift was possible because the costs of the housing benefit will be approximately 300 million euros lower this year than in 2022. The housing corporations will reduce the rents of about a third of their residents to a maximum of 575 euros as of 1 July. This also means that less rent allowance has to be paid.

The Woonbond and Aedes were happy with the windfall of 17 euros per month for people with rent allowance. The recipients are all low-income tenants. According to the housing associations and the Woonbond, these tenants are currently having a very hard time due to the high inflation and could use every helping hand.

Politics

But there is now a good chance that from 2025 that increase in the rent allowance will be reversed. It is reason for Aedes and the Woonbond to appeal to politicians to intervene now. They find it strange that the poorest tenants have to pay for the implementation costs of laws that should ensure that living in the Netherlands becomes affordable again.