Pathways of Dutch and German Social Renting

Abstract

The pathways that Dutch and German housing policies took in the past decades resulted in two different rental markets. The Dutch policies have delivered the largest social rental sector in the Western world, while Germany has produced one of the largest private rental sectors in Europe. The latter implies that officially no social rental sector is operating in Germany, but a private rental sector where some suppliers of housing are temporarily subsidized. Social rental dwellings in the Netherlands are owned by non-profit organizations, whose public task is to provide affordable housing for those in need. Even though the systems of social renting are different, both countries had moved from providing affordable rental housing to large segments of the population to a more targeted system and from a nationally implemented to a more locally implemented housing policy. In the past decade, the Netherlands has been limiting the supply of social rental housing, while Germany has offered extra subsidies to increase the supply of affordable housing.