Housing shortage: ‘You can’t just reverse a shortage like this’

Due to the lack of housing, more and more students are giving up their search for a room, according to a report published earlier this week by Kences, the knowledge centre for student housing. The shortage of student rooms currently stands at 21,500 and is set to rise.

With new elections just around the corner, the housing shortage is high on the agenda: many parties have now announced their programmes, and tackling the housing crisis is one of the key priorities for almost all of them.

Peter Boelhouwer, professor of Housing Systems at Delft University of Technology, argues that the housing shortage is largely due to the government: “They’ve made a real mess of things.”

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How so?

“The government has created too many restrictive rules. At present, you are not allowed to simply let someone move in with you, for example by renting out a room in your house or splitting a property. For example, there was a student in Nijmegen who had inherited a house. She wanted to share this property with two friends, but this was not permitted because it would then constitute three separate households, which the local authority did not allow.”

‘We see a lot of illegal rentals, including among students’

“I also consider the fact that students living in rooms are not entitled to housing benefit, whereas those living in studios are, to be a policy mistake on the part of the government. As a result, many studios are now being built, even though they are more expensive and accommodate fewer students. There are two options: either the rent allowance for studios is abolished, but then you put the students in trouble. Or the rent allowance is extended to students who live in rooms. That costs money, but I think that’s the right way to go.”

If there is a shortage this big, where are all these students currently living?

“We are seeing a slight increase in homelessness, but these are almost never students. They continue to live with their parents for longer or go “couch surfing” at a friend’s house. And we are seeing a lot of illegal rentals, including among students.”

Can’t we just build more homes?

“Here too, the government has created many restrictions. The current system of objection and appeal procedures sometimes delays construction projects for years. This not only costs a lot of time, but also a lot of money.

Many new-build homes must also be “affordable”. This has caused many foreign investors to walk away, but Dutch investors have also halved in number. However, new-builds do not have to be accessible to everyone right away. By building more expensive homes, people with more money can move up the property ladder more easily, which also frees up homes at the bottom of the chain.”

Can’t the government build homes itself, just like roads and hospitals?

“The European Union has certain rules for state aid and government intervention. The government is allowed to invest money in “services of general economic interest”, but there must be very good reasons for doing so, and these must be approved by the EU. It then examines whether the market is truly unable to solve the problem. But the government has imposed so many restrictive rules at the moment that the market cannot function at all.

Meanwhile, more and more private owners are selling their properties because renting them out is no longer attractive due to all the rules and taxes. The government could buy these homes itself and rent them out, but that would cost a few billion euros from the budget that could then not be spent on other things. That is, however, a political choice that could be made.”

How else can we solve the housing shortage?

“Building new houses takes years, so you can’t just reverse the shortage. The problems surrounding existing housing stock are easier to solve. We need to remove the restrictions so that it is easier to split houses and rent out rooms.

Allowing more temporary construction could also be a solution. These types of homes are easy and quick to build. But they often lead to a lot of protest from local residents, who are afraid of nuisance, especially from young people or migrant workers. Citizens themselves often work against this: they prefer not to give anything up.

‘Universities could also invest in student rooms’

Universities are also not taking enough responsibility for the housing shortage. They recruit many foreign students without providing them with rooms. Universities could also invest in student rooms. They are currently under considerable pressure due to budget cuts, so it is complicated, but building rooms does not have to be loss-making.

We may also have to make choices with regard to migration. The student population has grown significantly due to foreign influx. It is difficult to limit this, but perhaps we have to: we simply do not have the facilities.”

What are your expectations for the elections?

“I am cautiously optimistic. Many parties have made the housing shortage a priority. They are also willing to allocate additional funds for this purpose. However, it remains to be seen whether those funds will actually be made available.”