Social housing

Rents in the Netherlands continue to rise. In July, the average rents were 2.5 percent higher than in the same month last year. The highest increases happened in Amsterdam and Rotterdam, Statistics Netherlands reported on Wednesday.

The rents of social housing owned by housing corporations increased by 2 percent. Rents for social housing owned by other landlords and rents in free-sector housing both increased by 3.3 percent. In all three categories, the rents increased more than last year. 

Minister Kasja Ollongren of Home Affairs wants to prevent social housing from ending up with people who are not entitled to them. She is therefore sharply increasing the fine for illegal subletting, from over 20 thousand euros to 83 thousand euros, RTL Nieuws reports.

The Minister is amending the Housing Act to make the higher fines possible. Soon municipalities will be able to immediately impose a 20 thousand euro fine for a first offense. The fine can increase to 83 thousand euros for people repeatedly caught illegally subletting a social rental home. 

Tenants of social rental housing do not have to worry about any extreme rent increases in the coming years. The association of housing corporations Aedas and the Woonbond made a new social lease agreement in which they agreed that social housing tenants will not carry the costs of making their homes more energy-efficient. And rents will rise by no more than inflation in the coming years, RTL Nieuws reports.

The agreement still has to be approved by the members of both organizations. 

The quality of life in neighborhoods with many social rental housing is quickly deteriorating due to the many problem tenants that live there, says the branch association for housing corporations Aedes based by a study by Rigo Research en Advies, RTL Nieuws reports.

The government is structurally allocating an extra 100 million euros for making social rental homes more sustainable. Housing corporations will receive this amount annually starting next year, sources around the cabinet told RTL Nieuws. 

The extra investment will officially be announced on Budget Day, on September 20th, according to the broadcaster. In the coalition agreement the government already promised housing corporations 100 million euros structurally to make their homes more sustainable.

The police raided several properties in The Hague on Thursday in an investigation into the forgery of documents used to make people eligible for homes they are not entitled to. Data of hundreds of people who may of been 'helped' in this way was found. There are also signals that this type of fraudulent practice is happening in Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Utrecht, a spokesperson for the Public Prosecutor said to Het Parool.

Amsterdam is committed to creating more housing for people with low- or mid-level incomes. To realize this, the municipality is implementing a ratio for new construction projects - 40 percent social housing, 40 percent mid-level rents and 20 percent expensive housing, the city announced in a press release. 

Housing corporations will again start investing more into maintenance and renovation of social rental housing, national association Aedes announced. More rental housing will also be built, NAP reports.

According to Aedes, most housing corporations are doing better. Which means that there is more financial room for maintenance and improvements, such as new central heating, insulation and double glazing. "In the coming year 30 thousand major home improvements of more than 20 thousand euros per home will be carried out", a spokesperson for Aedes said.

Amsterdam is offering support to 10 thousand residents who have a low income, but relatively high rent, the municipality announced in a press release on Wednesday. The city is dedicating 3.5 million euros per year for the next three years to this.

"We see that Amsterdammmers increasingly often end up in financial troubles because their fixed costs are simply too high. With this arrangement, we can help a bit", Social Affairs alderman Arjan Vliegenhart said. 

Refugees who received a residency permit in the Netherlands increasingly have to share living space with other refugees, because Dutch municipalities can not find enough homes to house them all, the Volkskrant reports based on a survey of the 25 largest municipalities in the Netherlands.

Amsterdam mayor Eberhard van der Laan thinks that social housing tenants should also be able to take advantage of Airbnb. Social housing tenants get all of the burdens, but none of the benefits of the increasing tourism in the city, the mayor said in the talk show Heyu Urbans, Het Parool reports.