MPs back bill to make housing co-ops easier to start

The Dutch lower house of parliament has backed a bill intended to make it easier for groups of residents to set up their own housing cooperatives, a model supporters say offers a route out of the housing crisis.

The bill, drawn up by socialist party MP Sandra Beckerman, was passed by parliament on June 30 and now goes to the senate.

A housing cooperative is a group of people who jointly own or rent their homes, manage the buildings themselves and share facilities such as a communal living room, garden or workspace. Rents are usually low and there is no profit motive.

The bill adds two new definitions to the Housing Act: one in which residents manage homes still owned by a housing corporation, and one in which they develop or buy the homes themselves. The move pushes local authorities to draw up policies to support the model.

A third pillar
Backers hope it will establish cooperatives as a third pillar of Dutch housing, alongside regular rented and owner-occupied homes. Cooplink, the cooperatives’ network, expects the model could eventually account for around 10% of the 100,000 new homes the Netherlands aims to build each year.

Banks have been wary of lending to cooperatives, unsure whether they are dealing with a loose group or a business. A €60 million government fund, which cooperatives can apply to from the end of this year, is meant to help.

For residents, the appeal is as much social as financial. Linda Vermaat, who lives with her husband and child at the De Warren cooperative in Amsterdam after being repeatedly outbid on flats in the city, told broadcaster NOS it is “100% a way out of the housing crisis”.

Beckerman said that people are happier in a cooperative than in “an overpriced flat”.