About 710,000 households have too little income to pay the cost of their rented home — but the Dutch cabinet plans to take a tough approach against expensive rent prices.
If it is up to the cabinet, they will implement a system to cap rent up to €1,250 per month in the mid-market housing sector. They also aim to reduce rent for people with lower incomes, the NOS reports.
At the moment, outside of the social housing sector, landlords in the Netherlands can still determine the price of their homes. And with the current housing shortage, they’re free to set these prices quite high.
“Affordable housing”
Hugo de Jonge, Minister of Housing and Spatial planning, introduced this plan in a new memorandum titled “Affordable Housing”.
The cabinet is concerned about middle and low-income residents who live paycheck to paycheck or have too little money to make ends meet.
Given the housing shortage in the Netherlands, home seekers and homeowners alike are the victims, says De Jonge.
People in the Netherlands are increasingly spending more and more of their income on rent. Nearly one million people have too little income to pay the bare minimum living expenses, based on Nibud’s calculations.
Expensive prices
There is so much demand for homes in the free market that landlords drive prices up, especially in the Randstad. The asking price for a small rental apartment comes to around €1,500 per month.
Tenants usually can’t do anything legally — the house will go to someone that can offer the requested amount of money.
De Jonge wants to introduce rent protection up to €1,250 by 2024 — however, this amount is yet to be decided.
Future plans
The VVD, builders, and investors have long opposed the regulation of mid-market rent because it becomes less valuable to build mid-market homes.
But De Jonge and other parties such as GroenLinks (Green Left) want to place a rent cap to make housing more affordable.
Minister De Jonge is drafting this bill which still has to be passed by the Parliament and the Senate. They will also determine what the upper limit of the regulation will be.
What do you think about the Dutch cabinet’s bill to lower rent prices in the free market? Tell us in the comments!
