Confusion over plan to freeze social housing rents prompts Cabinet to seek advice

The legislative proposal that ensures that housing associations cannot raise the rent prices on July 1 every year will be sent to the Council of State for advice. This was confirmed by the housing minister, Mona Keijzer, after the weekly Cabinet meeting. No decision has been made regarding compensation for the housing associations.

The rent price freeze is one of the measures to improve purchasing power in the negotiations about the Spring Memorandum. People living in a social rental home under a private landlord are exempt from this measure. The process of compensating these private landlords proved to be too complex. People who do not actually qualify for social housing based on their income, also known as skewed tenants, are also not included.

Housing associations will miss out on millions of euros in income over the next few years due to the rental price freeze. This is money that they desperately need to continue investing in more and better affordable housing.

Several housing associations have already taken the case to court if Keijzer continues with the coalition parties' plans without compensating the associations.

Keijzer did not want to discuss eventual compensation fees. RTL Nieuws reported earlier this week that one consideration is exempting the housing associations from corporate tax. State Secretary for Tax Affairs, Tjebbe van Oostenbruggen, did not deny this when asked, but immediately added that there are quite a few additional details to the proposal. If this route is chosen, it will be arranged separately in the tax plan for next year.

Keijzer emphasized that the content of the bill has not yet been finalized. She will discuss the final choices with the four coalition parties and housing corporations. "Everything is open to discussion."

In other cases, Keijzer would like to discuss these things before she sends a law to the Council of State for advice, but because of the haste, the various steps are now running together.

The minister said that the task she has received from the coalition parties is "quite complicated", she thinks. Her ministry wrote in a press release that the proposal will go to the Council of State early next week.

The umbrella organization of housing corporations, Aedes, has already taken a first legal step against the minister. The term within which she must withdraw the decision on the rent freeze expires on Wednesday, otherwise, Aedes will start a lawsuit.