Social rented housing: valuable asset or unsustainable burden?’, Urban Studies 31

Summary. The Netherlands has maintained a high degree of intervention in the housing market through the 1980s. It also has a very large social rented sector which comprises 40 per cent of the total housing stock. The housing market regulation and the construction of large quantities of non-profit housing have created a stable level of production of new dwellings and an affordable housing stock. The large social rented sector offers shelter to a large population of low-income households; but it also accommodates many median and high-income groups, thereby avoiding extreme forms of housing segregation. Housing subsidies are a heavy burden on the national budget. A process of financial disengagement of the national government and the housing associations has been started. This will increase the independence of the non-profit housing sector from the political process, but will also lead to higher financial risks for the associations and more instability in this sector. 1