Municipalities taking action against housing corporations selling social homes

Municipalities are increasingly annoyed by housing corporations selling social rentals to fill their coffers, especially given the shortage and sometimes years-long waiting lists for social housing. Amsterdam and Utrecht are, therefore, making sales more difficult. But according to the housing corporations, a sales ban is counterproductive because it uses that money to build new social rentals, Nieuwsuur reports.

Every year, housing corporations sell over 3,000 vacant social housing units, generating hundreds of millions of euros. According to the corporations, this money is used for new housing construction and making their homes more sustainable. They also aim to bring more homeowners into vulnerable neighborhoods and, thereby, improve the quality of life, the corporations say.

But, locals complain that corporations are forcing people with low incomes out of their neighborhoods. And municipalities are increasingly convinced that social housing units should remain within the corporations.

This year, Amsterdam banned the sale of social housing units in certain neighborhoods. And Utrecht has even implemented a city-wide ban. It’s a matter of principle, Utrecht alderman Dennis the Vries told Nieuwsuur. “In this day and age, when there is such a great shortage of social housing, you should not sell rental properties.”

Woonin, the Utrecht housing corporation, told the program that it only agreed to the strict rules under duress. The corporation called it a “non-rational and sentiment-based policy that could result in fewer social housing units being built in the long term.” According to Woonin, it can build 1.5 to two new rental properties with the money from one sold rental.

De Vries does not give this argument much credit. “That has also been said in the past, but we have not seen it in practice. That was not achieved, and that is why we are so strict about this.”

Woonin said the city-wide sales ban would cost it 10 million euros this year. The other corporations would not respond to Nieuwsuur’s questions on this topic.