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This paper answers the question why the Dutch state has gone from vigorously stimulating private-rental growth and liberalization to actively restricting the tenure. Answering this question is important in understanding an emergent wave of more restrictive, or even "post-neoliberal" housing policies across countries. This paper presents an analysis of the changing private-rental politics in the period following the Great Financial Crisis, combined with a quantitative study of renters' housing outcomes. The central argument is that policies promoting private-rental growth and liberalization and the subsequent turn restrictive policies are both outcomes of the state seeking to balance the property-led accumulation with middle-class residential demands. Supportive policies were the result of a presumed alignment of the interests of capital, the state and the middle classes, but ongoing liberalization has undermined middle-class housing affordability – revealing a key tension between capital and middle-class interests. This tension triggered new, more restrictive policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy saving is an explicit goal of housing retrofitting in both the Netherlands and China. Retrofit providers expect to achieve this goal by applying insulation to apartment buildings and improvements in heating, cooling and ventilation. The aim of this paper is to explore both conceptually and empirically the interactions between householders and retrofit providers. Interaction activities are conceptualized in a framework of overlapping practices of retrofitting and everyday life. Empirical material is derived from interviews with retrofit providers and householders in the Netherlands and China. This paper shows that full energy saving potential in housing retrofitting fails to be accomplished, due to a limited involvement of householders at the consumption junctions in retrofit processes. Central to this failure are the limited options for residents to share pre-retrofit living experiences, to test future housing equipment beforehand and to customize retrofit packages. Also post-retrofit educational support, evaluation and monitoring is falling short to engage householders in their appropriation of their retrofitted apartment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The private rental sector (PRS) is making a surprising comeback. A central argument in our paper is that we see the rise of PRS and the associated stagnation of homeownership as springing from the contradictions inherent to financialized homeowner societies. Rather than a feature of either mature or late homeowner societies, contradictions of the promotion of homeownership through the expansion of mortgage markets paved the way for a revival of the PRS. Our case is the Netherlands, but our argument has a wider remit. We sketch the dominant trends in Dutch housing policy and present an overview of the rise of PRS and Buy-To-Let in Dutch cities. We identify how housing policies and realities have driven a shift from a debt-driven to a wealth-driven model of financialization, in which the demand for PRS as an investment class and as a place to live has become central. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How do municipalities strategically use land policy to develop land for housing? The development of housing is a challenge for many European countries, though the scale and time of it differs. Issues are not always about the absolute number of houses that need to be supplied in a country. The distribution and quality of houses affect the demand for housing. Land policy determines where and how future developments take place, and as a result, it has a considerable impact on both supply and demand of housing. Municipalities use different strategies of land policy to pursue housing goals. This paper aims to explore the rationalities underpinning such strategies of land policy. Therefore, a theory on pluralism – Cultural Theory – is employed to understand municipal strategies in different contexts, i.e. Germany (Ruhr region), Belgium (Flanders), and Netherlands. Applying Cultural Theory to land policy results in four ideal-typical strategies of active, passive, reactive, and protective land policies. Despite the fact that the decisions of municipalities are made within (or constrained by) their institutional environments (i.e. national/regional planning systems, development cultures, etc.), we found that there are key similarities between the strategies of the studied municipalities regardless of their different institutional environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, presenting evidence from the Netherlands, aims to connect two issues that are mostly dealt with in isolation: the development of the squatters’ movement and the increasing vacancy of offices in urban areas. As a result of overproduction of office space, the shrinking number of employed people and the growing popularity of the so-called ‘new working arrangements’, the vacancy of offices in urban areas is increasing quickly. Urban managers are faced with a significant challenge of managing these empty spaces and this paper discusses how squatting, despite an unsupportive legislative environment, has historically proliferated when vacancy rates rise. In order to understand contemporary policy debates surrounding this issue, this paper first sets out a brief history of the squatters’ movement in the Netherlands, Europe and elsewhere. Dutch government has wrestled with the squatting issue since 1976 and has tried to control this movement by legislation. Hence, the paper provides a critical overview of legislative and practical developments affecting squatters in the Netherlands, particularly in their occupation of vacant office space. Finally, the paper considers how vacant office space might be used more effectively to provide affordable housing, with a particular focus on the role of squatting. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper establishes a simple affordability model that implicitly incorporates the major Dutch market features to elucidate long-run house prices under a regulatory environment. The results reveal a long-run relationship for house prices under strict regulations. The association among house prices, income, interest rates, and inflation is verified using an aggregated dataset. In the long-run, incomes and interest rates function as the two prime forces driving price dynamics, whereas the role of inflation is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When asked to explain how they acquired a home middle-class households often forward a series of coincidences. This paper shows that what is experienced as sheer luck may actually be explicable by taking into account the various forms of capital people command. In this paper theories of Bourdieu and De Certeau are applied to the housing market and are used to explore the strategies and tactics people apply to acquire a home. For this study I draw on in-depth semi-structured interviews carried out in Copenhagen, Denmark and Amsterdam, the Netherlands among middle-class households. This paper shows that in order to explain access to housing it is necessary to investigate housing market practices and include other forms of capital than merely financial, such as for example social networks, embodied taste, and knowledge of the legal and institutional context. It is suggested that the way in which class is spatially produced tends to be working differently for various fractions of the middle class. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Based on data for Amsterdam, the Netherlands, this paper presents new evidence of a strong increase in the number of middle-class families in the city. By presenting the spatial patterns and trends of middle-class families in selected Amsterdam neighbourhoods, the paper shows that central neighbourhoods in particular attract middle-class families. In addition, new-build areas, both central and peripheral, offer a residential environment for middle-class families as a compromise between inner city and suburb. This paper links these patterns and trends with gentrification literature. Middle-class family neighbourhoods are classified in a typology that perceives neighbourhoods as fields that are accessed by means of capital, and operate as a stage for the accumulation of various forms of capital, which are associated with various habituses of the middle class. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The housing tenure structure has long been associated with different forms of welfare state capitalism in Western Europe. However, with the rise of owner-occupancy, this association has not been so straightforward. An alternative view is to view housing policies that promote owner-occupancy for households to acquire assets, as an attempt by the state to reform social welfare systems. The politics of welfare reform are related to the discourses of homeownership ideology. The ownership of (housing) assets agenda serves as a means to change the relationship between state, market and individual households. This view is mostly based on the British experience and this paper seeks to broaden it by examining the Netherlands and Spain. The paper shows differences, but also that housing policies play an important role in driving towards or maintaining market-dominated solutions. Housing is used to either reorient towards or maintain a welfare system where asset ownership and market dependency is deemed more appropriate than secure income and public expenditure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at what is pursued and achieved by formalised tenant participation in the Netherlands, and at the main factors influencing the participation process and outcome. An evaluative examination of a participation agreement, drawn up by a Rotterdam housing association and its tenants, and the implementation of this agreement illustrates the field of friction between what is written and what is done. The paper argues that the notion of power as embedded in structuration theory is important to the understanding of the process and outcome of tenant participation. The case study shows that it is difficult to fulfil the high ambition of co-operating in equality when positions are structurally different, even when the actors have formally agreed to do so. In crucial issues, the actors' own motives prevail and the distribution of power is decisive. In the studied case, tenants' successes were achieved only on less controversial issues. Nevertheless, formalised participation provides an added value to the outcome for all actors, including the weaker ones. Having to talk to each other about policy and carrying out the procedures in itself offer an important learning process valuable to both. Furthermore, the cyclic nature of formalised tenant participation offers recursive opportunities to influence the decision-making culture, which can gradually lead to rewarding improvements in both the process and the outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past 15 years Dutch housing associations have undergone a transformation from strictly regulated and heavily subsidized organizations to financially and administratively independent enterprises. This transformation has sparked a lively debate on regulation and the role of the government in social housing. There is a broad consensus that something needs to be done about the operations of housing associations in the Netherlands. Hence, their position and performance are a current topic of discussion in the Dutch Parliament. In this paper we examine public management from a network perspective. We envisage the policy environment as a network of players and explore three key concepts: "multiformity", "closed-ness" and "interdependence". The government is not the dominant party in this scenario, but one of several players with their own specific goals and resources. To be sure of a good performance, instruments of governance need to be in tune with the characteristics of the network. This paper discusses the instruments applied in the Dutch social housing network and uses the results of a case study in The Hague to illustrate the efficacy of the network perspective in social housing analyses and to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the current governance structure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The environment of Dutch housing associations is changing rapidly. These social landlords are faced with various problems, such as disturbance in the housing market, the complexity of inner city regeneration and a considerable growth in the number of elderly people. To deal with these problems, housing associations are obliged to deploy their existing resources and develop new ones. For that purpose they are increasingly forced to co-operate with other partners. As a consequence organizations become more and more involved in networks and their boundaries are blurring. However, using the term "network: probably raises more questions than it answers. What is a "network" and why are they coming into existence? To understand these developments this paper will examine the theory of network building. It aims to answer the following two research questions: (i) What is the structure of a network? and (ii) Which new competences can be developed in such a network? After a short introduction to Dutch housing associations and their scope of activities in the first section, the paper discusses the "resource based approach" in general and the concept of "core competences" in particular as part of the network-theory. It then discusses the different forms of co-operation in the network of organizations. The case of Trudo is used to illustrate how a housing association is able to take on new challenges after developing several core competences in new forms of co-operation with several stakeholders in its network. Finally, some concluding remarks and suggestions for further research are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Netherlands, the post-war housing estates are increasingly experiencing problems. Some of these relate to the concentration of households with a low socioeconomic status on these estates. The Big Cities Policy aims to improve liveability in deprived urban areas by increasing the number of high-income households and thereby decreasing the share of problem-causing households in the neighbourhood. The increased differentiation in education, ethnicity, income, home-ownership structure and lifestyle presents a challenge to social cohesion. This paper demonstrates how differences between socioeconomic and ethnic groups relate to different dimensions of social cohesion: social networks, common values and place attachment and identity. The issue is interesting since social cohesion can help enhance liveability and increase the tolerance between groups that is so often lacking in multiethnic neighbourhoods with residents from many different socioeconomic backgrounds. The paper is based on a fieldwork study undertaken on two estates in the cities of Utrecht and The Hague in the Netherlands. As expected, quantitative analyses show clear differences between native Dutch people and members of other ethnic groups. Contrary to expectations, socioeconomic characteristics do not lead on all dimensions of social cohesion to differences in the degree of social cohesion. The conclusion drawn is that increasing the diversity of socioeconomic or ethnic groups in deprived urban areas is likely to lead to less social cohesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper considers the current importance of choice as a concept in English housing policy. A key aim in extending choice is to empower the users of public services. The paper concentrates on the policy of choice-based lettings. We show how this is linked both to a wider policy debate in England regarding choice and to initiatives in other European countries, in this case the Netherlands. We then discuss the policy of choice-based lettings as it has been and is being implemented in English social housing. The paper goes on to discuss choice as a concept, with particular relation to rational choice. The view we develop is that choice has to be related to the capability to act and this is done through the concept of effective choice, which connects choice with access to resources. The final part of the paper offers an evaluation of choice-based lettings and its purported ability to empower users of social housing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Amsterdam's housing market is dominated by the social-rented sector. It comprises 56 per cent of the total housing stock, while home ownership comprises only 19 per cent, lower than anywhere else in the Netherlands, and among the lowest in the world. Central government policy is currently seeking to increase the share of home ownership in the Netherlands from 53 per cent (2001) to 65 per cent in 2010. This paper will summarise recent national and local (Amsterdam) housing policy developments, focusing on the recent practice of selling social housing in Amsterdam. Unlike the Right to Buy scheme in Britain, the Netherlands employs an 'offer to buy' strategy. Sales, however, have been disappointing so far. Two factors were found to be crucial in this regard: (1) the sluggish change in 'policy mentality' and bureaucracy and (2) the high prices in the home ownership market. By way of conclusion, the paper reflects on the desirability of shifting the tenure structure from tenancy to ownership and on the risks that an (over-) emphasis on home ownership may bring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper documents the consequences of the first living arrangements of young adults after leaving the parental home (without a partner, cohabiting, or married) for their housing situation, whether they rent independently, share accommodation, or own their own homes, both immediately after leaving home and in the first eight years after leaving. Data are analysed from two retrospective life-course surveys conducted in the Netherlands in the 1990s, using multinomial logistic regression models. The paper finds a strong influence of the timing and pathway of leaving on the housing situation immediately after leaving: those nest-leavers who make stronger commitments in their household careers (by cohabiting, or by marrying) are more likely to own a home and less likely to share. Although through the years after leaving home this influence decreases, it remains discernible and significant even eight years after leaving. This is remarkable, given the fluidity of the housing careers of nest-leavers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how personal income taxation has changed across countries and whether and how this has affected the taxation of owner-occupied dwellings. It presents a partial analysis as it focuses on imputed rent taxation and the mortgage interest deduction. Furthermore, the paper places housing taxation in a wider context by describing different benchmarks which could be used to assess the taxation of owner-occupied housing in different types of personal income tax. These international and theoretical points-of-departure are used to evaluate the taxation of owner-occupied housing in the Netherlands. The paper concludes that all along political arguments have conquered theoretical premises to the advantage of the owner occupier in comparison to the private landlord. It also concludes that the theoretical base in 2001 has become so weak that owner-occupied housing is in an exceptional position in comparison with other private wealth thus becoming an easy victim for future tax savings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of housing policy has been largely ignored in the debate on social fragmentation in Western societies. Only in Great Britain has this aspect attained prominence on the research agenda. Investigations there have shown that the mode of housing provision mitigates the effects of social fragmentation. Research elsewhere might help to clarify how and why the housing market amplifies or diminishes these effects. The case of the Netherlands is particularly illuminating because of the drastic housing policy reforms made there in recent years, allowing for a before-and-after assessment. This paper traces the effects of policy - and its reforms - on the range of housing conditions. In addition to dealing with the country as a whole, it investigates the changes in cities because of the specific nature of the urban housing stock. The analysis of how the housing conditions of various population categories changed during the period leading up to and following the announcement of the housing reforms of 1989 constitutes the core of the paper. The results show that housing conditions were already changing in the direction of the new policy aims during the 1980s. This casts doubt on the autonomous contribution of housing policy to changing housing conditions. The paper ends with a discussion of the implications of these results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2010 a working party made up of Dutch civil servants suggested a tool known as the ‘National Residential Property Tax’ with the aim of strengthening the public budget. Initially, this was intended as a tenure-neutral tax for both the owner-occupier and the rented sector. However, in the 2012 Coalition Agreement between the conservatives (VVD) and the social democrats (PvdA) it was narrowed down to a levy for landlords of properties with regulated rents – and thus ended up as a specific tax largely targeted at housing associations. On the one hand, the new government was offering housing association opportunities for annual rent increases above the rate of inflation but, on the other hand, it was getting ready to cream off the extra revenue to alleviate its own budgetary problems. By 2017 this new levy will have risen to 1.7 billion euros annually. This paper explains the background to this unique Dutch housing policy instrument and presents an ex ante evaluation of the impact of the landlord levy on housing associations, commercial real estate investors and tenants. It will also offer some conclusions and policy recommendations for housing policy in the Netherlands, which could be relevant for other European countries as well. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

While a growing number of national social housing strategies rely on the work of hybrid entities blending social and commercial tasks, the state/market dualism continues to dominate the conceptual landscape of housing research. This exploratory paper develops a conceptual approach to support research into the role of not-for-profit social entrepreneurs in the housing market. It looks for insights within their ‘hybrid’ status, spanning state and market, and subject to multiple sets of institutional conditions. Four frames of hybrid identity are developed, and then substantiated via a discussion of two different sectors of not-for-profit social entrepreneurs in Australia and the Netherlands. As the growth trajectory of each sector is traced and the construction of hybrid identity is explored from both public and private perspectives, institutional pressures are revealed that set the current context for development. This brings forth implications for existing conceptual tools, as well as directions for new research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reforming the system of financial instruments on the housing market is a recurring issue. This paper constructs a model explaining household behaviour, in particular the effects of prices and income on the tenure choice and the level of housing consumption. It analyses the effects that may be expected of fundamental changes of financial policy instruments in the Netherlands: (1) a conversion of below market rents to market rent levels; (2) a switch from the current fiscal system for owner-occupiers to a general lump sum tax reduction; and (3) a combination of these measures. The results indicate that the initial disadvantageous effects on the housing costs are large, but the behavioural response of households and the expected changes of price levels considerably reduce or even eliminate longrun effects. Since the effects may be substantial for individual households, a well-considered transition path, as is done in other countries, should be used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparing USA and Dutch experiences, this paper seeks to determine whether the demolition of public or social housing results in negative spillover effects, i.e. the shift of crime and other social problems to nearby neighbourhoods, as a result of residential relocation patterns. Notwithstanding fundamental contextual differences, existing research shows that many relocatees do recluster in low-income areas not much better than the public or social housing sites they moved from. Furthermore, USA and Dutch research highlights concern among public officials, politicians and community activists that this clustering is resulting in higher crime, increased neighbourhood dissatisfaction (among existing residents), more conflicts between residents, lower school test scores, etc. Few researchers have, however, been able to go beyond correlations and establish cause–effect relations between the in-movement of public/social housing relocatees and increased social problems. Attempts to identify a statistical threshold for clustering, beyond which negative effects occur, have not been successful. Nevertheless, existing evidence regarding negative spillover effects is compelling enough to warrant expanded and improved monitoring of both relocation and neighbourhood change patterns and to initiate programmes to address the concerns of residents in destination areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homeownership is influenced by resources, household context and characteristics of the family of origin. Using the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study, this paper investigates this influence and to what extent it differs between men and women in couples and between single men and women. The results for couples show that the earning potential of the male partner, indicated by the level of education, is much more important to housing tenure than the earning potential of the female partner, whereas the impact of the current income is similar for both sexes. Single women are less likely to be homeowners than single men. Moreover, the earning potential has a greater effect on homeownership for single men than for single women. Some evidence is also found for a greater effect of the father's socio-economic status on women's than on men's homeownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates to what extent the value of housing is transmitted from one generation to the next. Using the Social Statistical dataBase (SSB) for the Netherlands in 2003 and OLS regression analysis, it is found that the value of the parents' home is an important predictor of housing value. Even after controlling for the fact that parents and children might operate in the same housing market, and parental characteristics such as income, age and household status, strong similarities are found between the value of the parents' home and that of their adult children. Finally, it is concluded that parental housing value is a robust measure of the parents' socio-economic status because it reflects the parents' complete socio-economic histories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Area-based urban restructuring policy can be considered an important measure in combating residential segregation. The demolition of the social-rented sector is a crucial element of area-based restructuring policy in the Netherlands. As a consequence, many residents, most of whom have a low income, are forced to move to another dwelling. By means of an analysis of the dispersal pattern of displaced households in the Dutch cities of The Hague, Utrecht and Leiden, this paper gives insight into the effect of urban restructuring on segregation. The main conclusion is that displaced households do not concentrate in a small number of neighbourhoods, but follow a dispersed pattern. However, displacees seem to have a tendency to move to neighbourhoods with a high percentage of non-Western minorities and a large proportion of social-rented dwellings. This tendency indicates that concentrations might become apparent in neighbourhoods that match these characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will set out the concept of a 'gap' between the social rented and market rented housing sector. This will be examined with respect to one aspect of competition between the two sectors in England, France, the Netherlands and Germany: substitutability. The analysis will involve an examination of the extent to which tenants can choose between the two sectors. The price-quality bundles of housing services as expressed by the characteristics of the accommodation, the property rights of the tenants, the allocation system and the housing allowances in the different countries will be compared. Competition measured in this way seems to be rather larger than smaller in the Netherlands and Germany and rather small in England. France's intermediate sector partly closes the gap between both rental tenures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a wide interest in the effects of forced relocation in the context of urban restructuring. This interest is also inspired by debates on gentrification and displacement. The prevailing idea is that the lowest income groups particularly suffer from displacement in terms of their housing quality and increased rents. In addition, increasing proportions of forced movers are assumed to harm the housing opportunities of other house seekers, while competing within the social rented sector. Although several studies deal with the consequences of forced relocation, a broader perspective on housing chances is currently lacking. Moreover, most studies are qualitative, whereas a larger-scale quantitative analysis is needed to test assumptions mentioned above. This paper addresses these matters by analysing housing allocation data of the Haaglanden in the Netherlands and two cross-sectional surveys among forced movers in the region's central city, The Hague. Findings indicate that housing chances for both forced and regular house seekers have not declined substantially since 2000. Moreover, most forced movers experienced dwelling progress, partly thanks to the design of the housing allocation model. However, low-educated, as well as middle- and higher-income households less often report dwelling progress. Explanations for these findings are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution explores the relationship between housing policy, which is the responsibility of national governments, and competition policy, including the decision on the legitimacy of state support, which is the responsibility of the European Commission (EC). The paper paints a general picture of EU policy on competition and state support and describes the Dutch social housing system. Attention then turns to the recent intervention by the European Commission in the governance of Dutch social housing and it is asked whether the factors that prompted the intervention exist in other EU member states as well. The analysis shows that this is indeed the case. It is concluded that the intervention of the EC in the Netherlands could become a precedent for other European countries, particularly for those countries that opt against a residualised social rented sector and for a competitive role of social housing providers on the housing market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social rental housing has once again captured a strong position on the Dutch political agenda. This has happened especially since the European Commission sent a letter to the Dutch government indicating that the Dutch social rental sector was not considered EU-proof from the viewpoint of the European Union's competition policy. The letter coincided with criticisms from Dutch politicians that housing associations had not been performing well enough for some time, given their abundant resources. However, in an international context, the Dutch social rental sector is often regarded as a good system for providing affordable housing to those who need it, without the sector being marginalized and stigmatized. Jim Kemeny has classified this market as one in which the social rental sector in due course competes with the private rental sector on equal or almost equal terms as a unitary rental market. The starting point of this paper is whether the achievement of a unitary rental sector is threatened by the EU's competition policy. It will also discuss two other possible threats to the future of the Dutch unitary rental market: the threat to take surplus capital away from housing associations and have government decide on what to invest; and the attractiveness of home-ownership to households. We conclude that the character of the Dutch unitary rental sector is indeed under threat, although mostly by stealth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In academic debates on neighbourhoods and social cohesion, there has been ample attention paid to processes in old urban residential districts as well as in the massive housing estates built from the 1960s until the 1980s. Newly developed suburban districts have always been in question, maybe even more so than inner-city areas, yet they have never had a prominent place on the research agenda. This article focuses on what we actually know about social cohesion and territorial ties in newly built suburban settlements, and is based on a literature survey and two recent empirical studies carried out in the Netherlands. Paraphrasing the ‘classic community question’, which referred to urban contexts, this paper's focus is on whether social cohesion in suburban areas is indeed causing a ‘suburban community question’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the extent to which the effects of such life-course experiences as partnership formation, the transition to parenthood, divorce and unemployment on housing quality persist over the life course. Using retrospective survey data for the Netherlands and ordered logit analysis, the effects on housing quality of life-course experiences, their timing, and their persistence over the life-course were estimated. Housing quality was measured by a 4-category variable based on tenure and the size of a dwelling. The results indicate that several lifecourse experiences have a lasting effect on housing quality, although most effects become weaker with increasing age or duration since the experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines income-related housing support in Britain and the Netherlands. It considers the main issues that are at stake in current policy discussions, compares the arguments that are put forward in the two countries and draw conclusions about the future of income-related housing support. In both Britain and the Netherlands political discussions about the possible introduction of housing vouchers are observed. The most complicated issues are the poverty trap and unemployment trap, and housing consumption incentives. Moral hazard concerns can result in complicated anti-fraud measures that may add to the burden of administering income-related support. It is expected that the way in which income-related housing support schemes in both countries are designed and administered may come under closer scrutiny. Politicians want these schemes to be in tune with the need for labour and housing market mobility, wage flexibility, and the need to bring the public budget under control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While patterns of spatial segregation and concentration of ethnic minority groups in European cities have been well documented, more dynamic data on migration have been rare until now. In particular, little is known about the potential for different kinds of households to escape from poverty areas. Escaping these areas can be important in order to escape unwanted housing and living conditions. The analyses in this paper show that in the Netherlands the chance to escape such poverty neighbourhoods partly depends on ethnic descent: some immigrant groups are less able to escape than are Dutch households. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Esping-Andersen's theory and typology of the welfare state have been widely discussed in international comparative housing research. Most of the debate has been theoretical in nature; empirical applications of the theoretical framework are rare. We have therefore applied Esping-Andersen's typology to the housing system of the Netherlands. The results of this research project are described in this contribution. The paper starts with an outline of the theoretical background of the research project. There follows a description of Esping-Andersen's theory of the welfare state, with its typology of three welfare state regimes. This typology is reinterpreted for the field of housing. The resulting scheme of analysis shows how various welfare state regimes differ on some important housing system aspects. The scheme of analysis is applied to the housing system of the Netherlands. Several relevant aspects of this system, such as the organisation of housing provision, subsidisation, and rent regulation, are analysed. For each of these aspects, the welfare state regime with which it can be best linked is determined. Two epochs are analysed: the 1980s and the 1990s. Consequently, the development in time of the housing system in the Netherlands can be described. Some general conclusions are drawn concerning the applicability of Esping-Andersen's typology of welfare states to the field of housing. We propose a possible modification of this theoretical framework and outline some directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This contribution evaluates ways to compare financially renting and owning in order to measure tenure neutrality. Tenure neutrality is defined as the situation in which the consumer is financially indifferent between owning and renting a dwelling. This paper discusses the possibilities of defining tenure neutrality via government spending on housing, household housing cash flows and household housing costs. The Dutch situation delivers the numerical examples. It is concluded that the user cost of housing would be the only concept with which tenure neutrality truly can be measured. But it appears that theory may be difficult to implement in housing policy. This may also be the main explanation why such little progress has been made in the past three decades. The conclusion is reached that the implementation of the concept of user cost in housing policy is a complex undertaking. More discussion and best case reports are needed about the implementation of user costs in order to better clarify the options and the effects on housing consumption. A good starting point would be, if user costs were monitored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the 1990s a large majority of the social rented sector managers in the Netherlands shifted towards an advert model of allocation in place of a waiting list system. This paper focuses on the consumer's response to this new letting mechanism. Three case studies were conducted, geared to evaluate consumers' appreciation and understanding of the advert model. Various additional local, regional or national evaluations are used to put the findings from the case studies in perspective. Generally, the public appreciates the advert model more than the distribution system. However, insufficient understanding of the complex do-it-yourself allocation system affects appreciation of the system and access to vacancies both negatively. On average, people on low income and ethnic minority members (overlapping groups) were more prone to lack of understanding and were less successful applicants as a result. Moreover, the allocation mechanism has not changed differences in resources and bargaining power and its effects on the outcome of the allocation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the potential of a method for participatory policy making in the field of carbon dioxide (CO[sub 2]) reduction in housing: the CO[sub 2] reduction workshop. This innovative method aims to involve relevant actors at an early stage of urban development and to formulate common ambitions for CO[sub 2] reduction. Special attention is paid to the inputting of information about options for CO[sub 2] reduction. The workshop was organized and evaluated in two planning processes for new housing estates in the Netherlands. The evaluation addresses the design of the workshop, the utilization of knowledge in the process, the effects of the workshop on the commitment and knowledge of the participants and the effects on the wider planning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Netherlands, the housing conditions of most ethnic minorities are still inferior to those of the native Dutch. The focus of the paper is the housing careers of Turks and Moroccans in the city of Utrecht. Despite some improvements and certain exceptions, they still find themselves in housing conditions inferior to those of the native Dutch. A career approach is necessary to explain these less favourable housing conditions because the present situation cannot be seen separately from decisions taken earlier. Some of these decisions are taken in the field of housing, but it is argued here that decisions taken on the labour market and with respect to the household itself are of major importance. It is also argued that the ethnic cultural approach, which stresses the housing preferences of minority ethnic groups, does not adequately explain the housing conditions and housing careers of the Turks and Moroccans in the Netherlands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article deals with the changes in the tenant profile of the social rented stock in the Netherlands. It is inspired by the question whether the sector may be subject to a residualisation trend. The wider importance of such a phenomenon is that of the social marginalisation of the people concerned in general. Moreover, if the position of the social rented stock can be shown to be deteriorating, it would also illustrate a tendency to social polarisation in the redefined welfare state. Social and income polarisation in Western societies has been extensively investigated but, so far, polarisation tendencies in housing have largely been ignored. This article seeks to show that this omission should be rectified because changes in tenant profiles reveal wider developments. It also aims to uncover the impact of policy in this respect. The analysis of the changing position of the social rented sector during the period leading up to and following the housing policy reform of 1989 constitutes the core of the paper. The aim of that policy change was to improve the match between the tenants' ability to pay and the cost of housing as a means of reducing the burden of rent subsidies on the state. The reform has been hailed as an example of the effectiveness of policy-making. However, the analysis shows that the role of the social rented sector had already been shifting during the 1980s, well before the announcement of the overhaul of housing policy. This result illustrates that policy may simply codify decisions made in a network of actors rather than initiate change on its own accord. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Segregation is a central concept in both academic and policy debates on urban issues. It has been argued that the process of globalisation results in increased social polarisation and subsequently sharper spatial segregation. Indeed, many politicians express a fear of rising segregation, envisioning the emergence of 'ghettos' or as it is called in the Netherlands 'income neighbourhoods'. In order to prevent concentrations of poverty from forming, a new area-based policy was formulated which aimed to restructure the urban housing market at the neighbourhood level and mix low-quality with high-quality houses. Such a concern with social mix has become common in a number of developed countries. In this regard the analysis has a wide relevance. This paper explores these ideas both by discussing the theoretical framework underpinning the policy, and by examining empirical support for it. Since the policy of housing-quality mixing is still in the first phase of implementation, relevant longitudinal data is not yet available. As a consequence our evaluation addresses present poverty concentrations and housing stock (mix) characteristics in the city of Amsterdam. By comparing neighbourhoods that already have a 'mixed' housing stock to homogeneous neighbourhoods, it has been possible to see whether mixing really does correspond to significantly lower poverty rates. It turns out that the empirical facts are quite different from the expected results: mixing does not in fact reduce poverty. It is concluded that the policy lacks an empirical basis. Housing-mix policy requires substantial budgets, while the goal of reducing poverty cannot be reached. As an alternative, we suggest that poverty is a personal characteristic and that it is therefore preferable to approach poverty directly instead of hoping for the results of a dubious 'neighbourhood effect'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Netherlands has a large and differentiated stock of social rented dwellings, forming more than 40 per cent of the total housing stock. Housing associations are by far the largest providers of housing services in this sector. Traditionally, these associations were subsidised heavily but since 1995 Dutch government has no longer directly subsidised these associations. This paper deals with changes in Dutch housing associations in a period (1988-95) characterised by government austerity, deregulation, market conformity, privatisation and promotion of home-ownership. It is explained how the housing associations were able to survive and even maintain prospects for a promising future in a political climate that threatened the social rented sector. It is clear that housing associations can now operate more independently than in the past. This is seen as a positive development, but the government is now discovering the drawbacks of complete privatisation. A firmer embedding in a public framework is considered desirable now. Recently the cabinet introduced a strengthening of public supervision. The housing associations' umbrella organisations presented their own National Housing Programme and published a business code for housing associations. A crucial issue has not been discussed so far: who will subsidise the housing investments for low-income households in periods of economic stagnation? [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]