“Social housing rents should be raised”

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The rent of social housing should be raised gradually but substantially to eliminate the deficits the sector is facing, says the head of Amsterdam’s Federation of Housing Corporations, Hans van Harten.

The corporations are experiencing difficulties because the sale of houses has been falling as a result of the real estate crisis, Mr Van Harten says in an interview with Dutch daily Het Parool.

“Homes are no longer rising in value and are being sold less,” Mr Van Harten adds. “That means there is a much less money to invest. And it’s much harder to get any financing.”

“That means you need to lower your costs and raise your revenue by selling more homes. And rents will have to rise by 400 to 500 euros.”