Crossing Continents – The Netherlands – ten new cities? | EUROtoday

Available for over a yr

‘Start by lighting a candle each morning.’ In different phrases, pray. That’s the recommendation on one social media platform to these in search of a rented property within the Netherlands. The strain on housing is immense: an estimated scarcity of 400,000 properties. It was the primary situation within the current Dutch basic election, with the successful D66 occasion promising to construct ’10 new cities’.

Desperate occasions name for determined measures. Squatting was made a legal offence over a decade in the past, however with an estimated 90,000 properties standing empty, the squatters – krakers – are again. And there are millions of folks breaking the regulation by residing year-round in vacation or recreation parks deep within the Netherlands’ countryside.

The authorities are attempting to vary the dynamics. The metropolis of Amsterdam is cracking down on second properties and homeowners who go away a property vacant. And final yr, in an effort to chill an overheated market and restrict the exploitation of tenants, the nationwide authorities strengthened hire controls. But this has solely inspired landlords to throw within the towel and put their properties up on the market.

There’s additionally a query mark over plans to construct hundreds of properties – and new cities – due to an impediment few appear to have foreseen… Electricity. The Netherlands has sufficient energy, however it doesn’t have the infrastructure to move it to proposed new developments. The Dutch are recognized for innovation – particularly of their administration of water. Could floating condo blocks be one of many solutions? Linda Pressly meets each these on the sharp finish of the Dutch housing disaster, and people working to mitigate its fallout.

Presenter: Linda Pressly
Producer: Tim Mansel
Production coordinator: Katie Morrison
Studio Mix by: Duncan Hannant
Editor: Penny Murphy

Programme WebsiteShow much less