Where Housing Minister Hugo de Jonge presents many plans on regulating average rent and compulsory social housing, he is not appreciated. Professor Arnoud Boot sees it too.
Boot even argues that the real estate market as we know it isn’t even a market. “There’s almost no major government involvement in the housing market anywhere,” says Boot. ‘This means that there has also been a change of policy over time, because the Ministry of Housing was dissolved not too long ago. After all, the Netherlands was “done”.
According to Boot, the real estate market in the Netherlands is “by definition” very complicated. This is due to market stability. “If you have the wrong houses, it actually takes a generation to get the right ones,” he says. ‘And you can’t build very fast in a country that dense. So it’s extremely good that social housing is back at the top of the list and that there is a minister for it, but at the same time there is a danger.’
From one to the other
The danger that lies in the inconsistency of politics. According to Boot, this is a dossier to which different policies have been applied every time, from more markets to more governments. ‘So the question is what the role of government should be. (…). Obviously there has been constant action and not a year will go by without that happening.’
It names the social housing sector, which contains 2.5 million homes, which is actually a third of the entire stock. According to Boot, this indicates that government policy is important, “because when social housing – also located primarily in large cities in large cities – is extremely attractive and is appropriate while keeping rents low, then you see that people never want to go out.’
Hugo Young
And indeed, Hugo de Jonge cannot change the rental market, it is his point of view. The marketplace has been around for a long time, and according to Boot, it’s not social. “When you’re in, you never want to come out, and you’re on a ten-year waiting list if you need to.”
“Hugo de Jonge cannot change the rental market”
He calls it an “excellent warning” against excessive political ambitions. According to Boot, politics should be seen in the long term. “In the two and a half years that De Jonge still has as minister, he cannot show any results,” says Boot. ‘This is impossible. The real estate market can’t change that quickly.’
Spatial planning is a government task
Boot agrees with De Jonge in his view that land use planning is a task of government, in which he argues that it is imperative that government manifests itself. ‘The fact that municipalities may have different interests from those of the region, province or state means that the central government has the right to express itself.’
Source: BNR
Fernando Dowling is an author and political journalist who writes for 24 News Globe. He has a deep understanding of the political landscape and a passion for analyzing the latest political trends and news.
