Housing market crisis forcing exes to live together long after divorcing

In more than half of divorces, exes are forced to live together for at least a year after breaking up. The Dutch Association of Family and Inheritance Lawyers and Divorce Mediators (vFAS) found this in a survey of 275 members, carried out with journalistic platform Pointer.

79 percent of the participants called the housing problems after divorce worrying to very worrying. According to over 90 percent of lawyers and divorce mediators, problems have increased in the past five years.

Many people struggle to find an affordable home in the overstrained housing market, said vFAS chairman Alexander Leuftink. "The situation is even more dire for parents who just got divorced. The financial situation changed, and renting or buying a home often turns out to be too expensive." 

And that while divorce often follows an emotional period that people need time to recover from, Leuftink said. "That becomes almost impossible when you still have to live under the same roof as your ex."