Amsterdam to limit house-swapping, B&B's in 2024; Give young people housing priority

Last week, the Amsterdam city council approved several new rules that will affect the city’s housing market in 2024. These include stricter limits on bed & breakfasts, home swaps falling under the same rules as holiday rentals, and more young people getting priority for housing, Parool reports.

The city is reducing the maximum number of B&Bs per district by 30 percent. That means that some areas, like the city center, will have more bed & breakfasts than allowed, so no new permits will be issued when existing B&Bs close. Other districts, like Nieuw-West, still have room for new B&Bs to open.

Next year, house-swapping vacations via platforms like HomeExchange will fall under the same rules as other holiday rentals. This form of vacationing, where you go live in someone else’s home while they come to stay at yours, has fallen under the same rules as holiday rentals through platforms like Airbnb since 2021, but the city will now start enforcing it. Home-swappers have until March to register with the municipality and will only be allowed to exchange houses for up to 30 days per year.

Amsterdam already gave young people aged 18 to 27 priority for a home if they have lived in Amsterdam for at least six consecutive years in the past decade. But in practice, that excluded young people who had lived in Amsterdam all their lives but were registered elsewhere for their studies. From next year, 50 percent of all youth housing will be available to young people who do not meet the six consecutive years requirement.

Amsterdam will no longer make additional efforts to accommodate international students. They are eligible for 50 percent of youth housing without the six-year requirement but will have to compete with Dutch students for that housing. The city has teamed up with Hospi Housing, a platform that links people with a room to rent with students needing a place to stay, to help combat the student housing shortage in the city. International students can also use this platform.

The city is also expanding its housing priority scheme for essential workers - teachers, police officers, healthcare staff - to include police officers in training. Teachers in special education and teachers who work at a primary school with a challenging pupil population will receive extra priority.

Economically homeless people will also get priority under the national scheme that gives priority to social housing for certain groups, like families in dire straits and refugees. But the city is also tightening the scheme - people who refuse a suitable home will lose their priority.