Housing crisis biggest concern for voters at Dutch election

euronews (in English)

As voters head to the polls in the Netherlands on Wednesday, housing, in particular a lack of affordable homes, has become the key issue for a majority of voters.

Transcript

00:00 Housing is by far the most important issue at the Dutch elections.

00:07 The lack of affordable homes is topping the list of concerns in the Netherlands as one

00:12 of the country`s most relevant political experts tells Euronews.

00:18 It is the most important issue, I think, because it was neglected a long time. So, we have

00:23 a lot of people, young people, older people. We have, of course, also a lot of migrants

00:30 who need a house in this country. All the parties think it`s very important. Voters think

00:37 it`s very important. But there is no one party that has the solution that voters say this

00:44 is the best solution.

00:47 Several causes are creating a kind of perfect storm. Approximately 390,000 houses are missing

00:55 across the country, according to this professor from Delft University.

01:02 The reason is that we didn`t build so much housing last ten years, so we had a drop in

01:06 housing production and we had a quite steep increase of population because of migration,

01:13 especially labor migration, which is quite high. And last year we had, of course, people

01:17 from the Ukraine, but it`s especially labor migration. So, there`s much more demand for

01:23 housing nowadays than ten years ago and we produce less housing, so that gives a shortage.

01:30 Only in the city of Amsterdam there are about 3,000 so-called homeless people. People without

01:39 particular problems with an ordinary daily life, who lose their home after a separation

01:46 or a divorce and can`t find another one because of the difficulties of the real estate market.

01:52 A program called "Onder de Panne" by the non-profit association De Rijkerbog helps

01:57 these people by matching their needs with house owners who have rooms to spare and can

02:01 rent one at a modest price between 250 and 600 euros per month.

02:07 We try to give them a temporary spot to regain energy, get out of the survival mode of having

02:17 this stress constantly, to be thinking from where am I going to sleep, how am I going

02:23 to keep my job if I cannot shower, where am I going to cook my food, how am I going to

02:28 survive this. We try to give them at least for 12 months a solid spot to get rest and

02:36 help them to find - to make plans for the future.

02:39 De Rijkerbog also tries to accommodate people in empty offices or houses to be renovated

02:44 or demolished. In Amsterdam, renting a flat can be very difficult, but buying it can prove

02:49 impossible. The asking price for a 60 square meter house can go up to as much as 600,000

02:56 euros.

02:56 Yeah.

02:58 (whooshing)

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