Amsterdam to help low income tenants pay the rent

The municipality of Amsterdam announced a regulation to financially help low income households in the city who pay a relatively high rent. Amsterdam is the first city in the Netherlands to do so, ANP reports. At first this regulation is aimed at people who have an income of below 120 percent of the social minimum and pay rent of 600 euros or more. The aim is to prevent this group of Amsterdammers from getting large rental arrears. Thousands of households qualify for this regulation, according to Het Parool. "At a time when many people suffer from rising rents and the pressure on the housing market is large, the city council ensures that the rent decreases for the people who need it most", Housing alderman Laurens Ivens said to the newspaper. Amsterdam is setting aside 3.5 million euros over the next three years for this project. After the first three years, the housing corporations themselves are responsible for lowering rents. The money for this comes from the budget for the fight against poverty.