Dutch parliamentarians support €57 rent reduction for low-income households

Tenants with a low income - up to 130 percent of the social minimum - could soon get a rent reduction of 57 euros on average. A large majority in the Tweede Kamer supported Public Housing Minister Hugo de Jonge’s amendment of the Housing Act to regulate this.

A large part of the opposition wants the rent reduction not only to apply to the 600,000 low-income households renting in the social sectors but also to the 100,000 similar households with a private landlord. PvdA, GroenLinks, PVV, and SP want De Jonge to add them to his legislative amendment. They will block the law if their amendments don’t get his support, the parliamentarians of these factions said in the Tweede Kamer debate on the bill.

Coalition parties CDA and D66, among others, also have difficulty with excluding the 100,000 low-income tenants in the private sector but foresee various problems in granting this group the same rent reduction, which averages 57 euros per month. According to CDA MP Jaco Geurts, there are significant implementation problems. The Tax Authority would not be able to handle it, said D66 MP Faissal Boulakjar. According to both MPs, the adjustment would also affect the property rights of private landlords.

The CDA wants Minister De Jonge to look into whether private tenants can be financially compensated in another way. The D66 sees more value in making these rental homes more sustainable. Tenants “benefit more from a structurally lower energy bill than from a once-off rent reduction,” said Boulakjar.

De Jonge is against launching a further investigation, as his own party wants. All options have already been considered and found impossible, the Minister said. At the insistence of PvdA parliamentarian Henk Nijboer, the Minister will enter into talks with private landlords, asking them to voluntarily lower the rents for their tenants.

JA21 also supports the bill that regulates the rent reduction. “It is necessary because many tenants are on thin ice,” said Nicki Pouw-Verweij. She does think it's only “patching” the problem. “It is the umpteenth correction to the failing housing market policy.”

The Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, will vote on the law next week. But it is already clear the bill will pass with the support of a large majority. If the Eerste Kamer, the Dutch Senate, also gives the green light, the rent reduction will take effect in July.