Amsterdam is finally going to crack down on the housing market “madness” in the city. According to NU.nl, some of their proposals for 2020 are mainly about putting a cap on Bed and Breakfasts by making them apply for permits, making holiday rentals illegal in some neighbourhoods, giving priority to young Amsterdammers, healthcare and education staff, and so on.
In addition to the others, they also want to make sure that they can apply for a set number of permits per district, and only the owner of the house can manage it. These rules will also apply to houseboats. They are mainly doing this to test out if the quality of life will improve, by removing a factor many people believe to have added to the crisis: holiday rental sites like AirBnB, Booking.com, Expedia, etc. The city is using this as a basis to decide whether to implement a general ban on vacation rentals will be needed in some parts of the city.
Laurens Ivens, the alderman in Amsterdam says, “in Amsterdam, there is a dire shortage of homes. Many homes are now being used as a profit object by tourist rentals or converted into rooms and rented out for maximum prices. This package of measures is needed to curb the craziness of the market.”
They are also looking into possibly restricting people from renting out individual rooms, as opposed to apartments. Although it is easier to find a single room than a whole apartment in this current market, it rules out possibilities for families.
What do you make of these proposals? Do you think they will actually help? Or do you think there are other ways to go about it? Let us know in the comments below!
Feat image source: Wikimedia/Patano
