Social rent will go up after all, also for students

On the day the Dutch cabinet fell, minister Keijzer withdrew the controversial bill to freeze social rents. The Dutch student union LSVb is annoyed that students will now also have to pay up to 5 per cent more rent from 1 July.

The Spring Memorandum stated that social sector rents would not be increased in 2025 and 2026. However, student housing providers and others warned that the compensation the government wanted to give them was far too low. As a result, they would not have enough money left over for new construction and making their housing more sustainable.

Housing minister Keijzer acknowledged the criticism of the bill and decided to withdraw it on Tuesday, after the fall of the Dutch cabinet. ‘This means that from 1 July rents in the social rental sector will be allowed to rise by the legal maximum of 5 per cent and in the housing association sector by an average maximum of 4.5 per cent,’ the minister wrote to the House of Representatives.

Extra housing

Students renting from social housing providers such as Duwo, SSH and Idealis fall under the latter category, while social tenants renting from a private landlord fall under the former.

The Dutch National Student Union reacts indignantly: ‘It is a political choice we do not support,’ said chairman and TU Delft student Abdelkader Karbache. ‘Minister Keijzer acts as if a choice has to be made between affordable rents or enough housing, while you can perfectly well freeze rents as well as adequately compensate the housing corporations.’ He hopes that a next cabinet will be willing to invest extra.

HOP, Naomi Bergshoeff