Is renting unaffordable in the Netherlands?

Marietta Haffner and Harry Boumeester

International Journal of Housing Policy, 2014, vol. 14, issue 2, 117-140

Abstract: Tenants in the Netherlands not only pay relatively more for their housing consumption than owner-occupiers, but also appear to be subject to Schwabe's law on rent. This law states that households with a lower income are confronted with higher rent-to-income ratios than households with a higher income. In the Netherlands most rents are regulated, so these are expected to be at below-market levels. Tenants of these dwellings are eligible for housing allowances if their income is considered insufficient for paying the rent. The hypothesis is that a rental dwelling with a regulated rent and for which the tenant receives a housing allowance should be affordable to the tenant. However, as this paper shows, even a maximum degree of government intervention (rent regulation and housing allowances) plus the impact of affordable rent setting by landlords, leading to a maximum subsidisation of the tenant, cannot prevent a situation whereby tenants are paying an unaffordable rent. And an unaffordable rent suggests that these tenants may indeed feel impacted by housing affordability problems.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1080/14616718.2014.908570

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International Journal of Housing Policy is currently edited by Professor Suzanne Fitzpatrick, Gerard van Bortel and Richard Ronald

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