Kences, the umbrella organization of social student housing providers, is ‘dismayed’ by the cabinet’s decision not to increase social rents for two years. ’We support a rent freeze for students,’ writes Kences in a press release, ‘but the downside is that we will be able to build fewer rooms and to make less progress on sustainability, things that of course would actually contribute to the affordability of housing costs.’

According to Kences, there is currently a shortage of about 25 thousand student housing units in the Netherlands. An initial inventory among Kences members suggests that the construction of “certainly several thousand student houses” cannot go ahead, due to the rent freeze.

Slumlords

The Woonbond also raises the alarm. According to the representative of tenants, the housing corporations receive too little compensation for the rent freeze while the government does have the means: it loses less money on rent supplements now that part of the rents do not increase. Moreover, the cabinet would give “all the space” to slumlords, for example by making fewer homes eligible for rent protection.

Housing protest

About the latter, the National Union of Students is also angry. “For social rented rooms the rent may be frozen, but students who don’t live in social rental rooms will have to deal with extra rent increases, on top of what was already announced.” The LSVb is calling on students to join the Housing Protest on 10 May in Utrecht.