DEVE

Should I stay or should I go: The Netherlands and Utrecht specifically attract multiple local and international students every year because of their universities and facilities. However, with the increase in demand for housing, the price of rents is rising and the supply of houses is decreasing. Bearing in mind that students are vital for…

Committee on Development (DEVE)

By Aleksandra Emamzade (BG)

Should I stay or should I go: The Netherlands and Utrecht specifically attract multiple local and international students every year because of their universities and facilities. However, with the increase in demand for housing, the price of rents is rising and the supply of houses is decreasing. Bearing in mind that students are vital for the economic growth of the city, its identity and more, what steps could the EU take to tackle the housing crisis and assist students in having their right to housing met?

Figure 1: Protests demanding affordable housing in the Netherlands

Introduction

Having access to adequate housing is a human right recognised by The High Commissioner for Human Rights which is the principal human rights official of the United Nations (UN).  However, in recent years the housing crisis has spread all across Europe. People are challenged to find affordable housing due to several reasons, mainly: the undersupply of said affordable housing, rising rents, low quality of urban infrastructure, limited access to land for construction and renovation, increasing urban poverty and homelessness. Vulnerable groups1 such as young people, looking for their own home or international students coming from across the world, struggle to find housing in places like the Netherlands, Germany, France and other Member States. Inextricably linked to the housing crisis, are the house prices themselves in the EU which have increased by 37% between 2010 and 2021 in 23 Member States, while rents have risen by 16% in 25 Member States. 

The Netherlands, one of Europe’s most densely populated countries with 17.8 million people, lacks around 390,000 homes, according to a recent study. The lack of housing is crucial mostly for young people because the Netherlands has a high number of citizens between 18 and 24 (1,604,619), while the youngest age at which people are finding their own home is around 23 years old. The Netherlands is a host country to a high number of international students due to their quality of education; in the school year 2022/2023 123,000 international students enrolled in Dutch universities. However, the Netherlands do not have the highest ratio for international students; it is one of the top chosen countries.

To deal effectively with the housing crisis, it would take managing both the demand and the supply on the housing market; the demand is the needed housing, the places that are needed to provide everyone with decent housing. The supply is what is currently available on the market.  What should be taken into consideration is that currently, the demand for affordable and decent housing is higher than the available supply. 

Actors & Stakeholders

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union.  It is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions on strategy development as well as managing and approving the funding, and proposing new laws. The Commission also represents the EU internationally while also overseeing the implementation of the laws and policies across the Member States. The laws that the European Commission proposes are then discussed and amended in the Council of the EU and the European Parliament. The Directorate General for Regional and Urban Policy (DG REGIO) is responsible for carrying out and implementing policies regarding regional development, cohesion, and housing together with the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) which aims to strengthen social and economic cohesion. However, housing is mainly the competence of the individual Member States, which the European Commission can help through funding programs and policies. Together they work towards integrated territorial and local development strategies. Additionally, this policy area requires strong local engagement. The European Urban Initiative is an EU instrument that supports urban regions of all sizes 

The European Liaison office is an important stakeholder as it is in charge of enhancing citizen’s awareness, engagement, promoting dialogue and ensuring the engagement of mutual interests across diverse sectors and policy areas. It is crucial for dealing with the housing crisis as European citizens need to be informed about current measures being initiated. The office works as a connecting point between different European institutions, organisations and other stakeholders. 

Member States are able to propose laws and amend their respective legislation in order to, broadly, improve the life quality of their citizens. Responsible ministries for housing vary around Member States; in the Netherlands there is The Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) which is responsible for urban development, environmental protection, and sustainable living. The ministry plays a key role in implementing policies regarding housing, planning and environmental issues. VROM aims to create a livable, flexible, sustainable society. The division that is related to sustainable planning and housing is the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. 

Relevant non-governmental organisations 

Housing Europe is the European Federation of Public, Cooperative, and Social Housing. The Federation strives to achieve access to affordable, and sustainable housing available to all. The Association of Housing Corporations (Aedes) is the executive body responsible for the housing organisations in the Netherlands with 5 main priorities: Affordable Housing, Sufficient Rental Properties, Sustainable Homes, Livable Neighbourhoods and Effective Collaboration. Moreover, the organisation is striving to achieve equal and housing opportunities by supporting local development plans through collaboration with other organisations. 

The International Union of Tenants (IUT) is a global non-governmental and non-profit organisation that aims to provide good housing with affordable rent while ensuring that tenants are equally making decisions affecting their homes. It identifies and prioritises policy issues, analyses issues that concern tenants through partnerships with the European Housing Forum as based on the Housing Partnership for the EU Urban Agenda. The partnership has a function for addressing housing challenges, promoting sustainable urban development. Its main focus is providing affordable and high quality housing. In addition, the partnership has developed guidelines for affordable housing policies, spread knowledge on housing issues, promoted various housing projects, supported research and data collection for better understanding and others.  

Figure 2: Focus and results of the Housing Partnership’s work – summary.

Key challenges

A bigger share of the population is in need of finding affordable and decent housing than the available supply of accommodation. Due to the increased rent prices people struggle to find a home. As the quality of housing goes up so does the price of it.  Additionally, with the increasing number of students looking for a place to live, the affordable housing becomes lower as the number of available living spaces stays the same. Finding an affordable home becomes even harder for people of middle-class income. In big cities the struggle of finding housing comes not only for students but for working people. As exemplified in the fact that, in 2022 40% of shares of the income were for housing expenses in Europe. This shows that people not only struggle to find housing but to afford the already existing one. It is especially harder for people that live in social housing and spend most of their monthly income on food and energy.  For example in Brussels the number of households that have applied for social housing has jumped from 49,000 in 2020 to almost 52,000 in 2022.  

However, the Dutch Government has planned to build 100,000 homes per year which would need a high number of investments due to the high costs of building materials. Additional measures have been taken in Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Italy where public and non profit housing providers have set up solidarity funds for the increased rent. 

Moreover, finding new housing places is crucial for the economic growth of one’s country because when people are not able to find affordable and decent housing they tend to move to other places. The ratio of international students to Dutch students dropping out of university due to the housing crisis is higher, 17% international while 6% Dutch. The students decide to stop their studies because of either high costs of living expenses or tuition. Studying abroad for some often turns out to be challenging because of the different living standards of the chosen country and country of origin. 

What is more, locals of cities that have higher international populations often consider international students as outsiders as the language barrier comes between the two communities. For instance, difficulties might be found in arranging the accommodation and the communication between tenants and landlords or in places of exchange like supermarkets, banks or other facilities. Furthermore, sometimes they even express frustration as family homes are being transformed into student housing. 

People who live in or would like to move to cities like Amsterdam, Utrecht and Groningen join waiting lists now which take from 38 months to three years to find housing. The ban on sharing a house with more than three people in some cities is another significant issue. Notably, the prices via agencies for finding housing for students in the Netherlands have risen by 8% where an average of €715 per month is required for shared housing. 

Figure 3: Top 10 cities based on the number of new international enrolments in 2021-2022.

Relevant Policies & Current Measures

The Urban Agenda for the EU is a policy aiming at urban housing and practice. It promotes cooperation between the European Commission, Member States, and European cities in order to tackle social challenges such as the lack of households. The Agenda strives to implement already existing laws and regulations and was launched in 2016 with the Pact of Amsterdam and the Ljubljana Agreement (2021-2027) with their objectives of affordable and decent housing. The pact and the agreement aim to achieve coordination among Member States on urban matters, ensuring that the Urban Agenda for the EU is implemented, and improving monitoring of urban policies. Both work towards a better sustainable urban development and achieving the goals of the Urban Agenda for the EU. 

The Housing partnership is a collaborative initiative under the EU Urban Agenda. It aims to contribute to dealing with housing challenges, legal and financial difficulties. Through knowledge spreading and policy development. The EU cities that are in crucial need of investing in affordable housing through guidance on EU regulation and public support for housing. 

#Housing2030 is an initiative of Housing Europe, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). It envisions and strategies the future of housing. The Initiative works towards effective, affordable housing policy so that everyone has access to decent, healthy and low-cost accommodation. By engaging various stakeholders and promoting innovation aim to shape the housing sector so that it can meet the demands of the future. 

Measures in the Netherlands

The city of Utrecht, with high demand for affordable places and low supply because of the large number of international students in the Local University, has decided to undertake measures such as a law2 aimed at decreasing buy-to-rent estate purchases. The city has also announced places to expand student accommodation in coming years so that it meets the high demand. 

Further research

Activity

Dive into the deep: Look into some organisations that provide assistance for finding affordable housing. They could be both sites for apartments or other accommodation. You can look into non-government organisations that provide helpful tips and tricks. Whatever you might find useful and interesting. 

Gather your research in a document (could be both with bullet points or in a text) as you try to answer the following questions: 

  • Do you find those sites useful and the resources they provide? 
  • Could they be improved? How? 
  • What do you think of your findings? Are there available housing? Do you think it is possible to find accommodation as an international student? 

Send them to [email protected] 2 days before the session 🙂 

  1. Vulnerable groups – A population that has some specific characteristics that make it at higher risk of falling into poverty; ex. the elderly, the mentally and physically disabled, at-risk children and youth,  etc. ↩︎
  2. The law was introduced at the start of 2022, it effectively banned people or organisations from buying homes with an official valuation of 440,000 euros or less unless either they would occupy the home or allow an immediate family member to live there. ↩︎