CONTACT US
Share: Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn I recommend visiting cushmanwakefield.com to read:%0A%0A {0} %0A%0A {1}
Ode aan de woningcorporatie Ode aan de woningcorporatie - small

Ode to the housing association

Jos Hesselink • 12/11/2020
We are faced with a major challenge to ensure that living in the city remains affordable and thus retains its soul and that we feel connected to the city in which we live.

The historical role of housing associations and the government has turned out to be decisive for how cities throughout the Netherlands look today, for how neighborhoods and districts with their own characteristics and facilities have been created.

When I look back at more than 150 years of history of the housing corporations, a continuous interaction is visible between the influence of the government on policy and the amount of affordable housing that was built. As well as a search for the right balance between room for maneuver and regulation. As far as I am concerned, the current state of affairs is far too complex a situation that makes housing construction in the social and middle segment more difficult.

In the twenties of the last century, our capital almost four times larger and grew into a large modern city under the inspiring leadership of Floor Wibaut, one of the most important councilors of Amsterdam of the last century. He devoted himself to public housing with great success. Under the guise "a good home is a right of every citizen", shacks in the city center were declared uninhabitable, major plans for new housing estates were made and implemented. An iconic building from that time is Het Schip in Westerpark, but also Plan Zuid van Berlage from the Amstel station to the Olympic Stadium. The main goal of Wibaut was: material and spiritual upliftment of the workers. They came to live in beautiful, clean neighborhoods with gas, water and light. There was a great eye for beauty in this time of the Amsterdam School - a style that can be found in many places in the Netherlands - in stark contrast to the unimaginative, boring and monotonous architectural style of the 19th century such as in the Pijp.

After the Second World War, housing associations played an even greater role in reconstruction and solving the housing shortage. In this way they have built up years of knowledge and experience in urban planning and area development. Step by step, the financial dependence of housing associations on the government decreased until the mid-1990s. Corporations are gaining more power and the social role is being explained more widely. The result was that many activities were developed, but that they realized less and less affordable homes and an uneven playing field with market parties arose. At the beginning of this century, housing corporations came to be seen in a completely different light; the European Commission intervened with administrative measures. Moreover, it was revealed that a number of corporations had gone wrong with investments and self-enrichment.

With the Housing Act in 2015, the corporations are back to their core task: social housing. The freedom for corporations has thus been restricted in order to prevent 'leakage of socially intended assets'. From the perspective of the housing shortage, it unfortunately has a danger: complex laws and regulations, the landlord levy, the sustainability issue and high construction costs are hampering the construction of social housing as well as homes in the middle segment. Solving the housing shortage is simply an incredibly complex task where many stakeholders have to take responsibility. Moreover, another traditionally social role of the housing corporations is more than ever under threat: the role of area director. In addition to making existing homes more sustainable, we need to expand cities. By adding districts and neighborhoods that are inclusive and connect instead of competing with each other. In the past, housing corporations have shown like no other that they can successfully accomplish this task. Let us use the knowledge and experience of housing corporations as natural partners of municipalities and market parties to guarantee and create inclusive, liveable cities for everyone. Hence an ode to the housing corporations. 

Every month a column is published on a topic related to the value of the city. This vision is based on internal research and dialogue with internal and external stakeholders, in close collaboration with consultants and analysts from our Real Estate Strategy & Innovation team. More background can be found in the Insight that can be downloaded on this page (in Dutch).

Read more - Value Of A City

Lessen uit de woestijn card
Insights

Lessons from the desert

Having a place to live is a right for everyone. Preferably in a nice place in an inclusive environment with room for personal development and perspective.
Jos Hesselink • 16/12/2021
Smart City card
Insights • Technology

The smart Smart City

A fully digital city is like working completely from home due to corona: all spontaneity and creativity disappear like snow in the sun. Living in the city only gives energy when the city is bustling with activity and at the same time provides peace of mind when you need it.
Jos Hesselink • 18/11/2021
Climate risk card
Insights • Sustainability / ESG

Climate risk

Climate risk is now a reality which will impact current and future value of property. When we talk about climate risk, we invariably mean one of two things – the transitional risk of moving towards a low carbon economy or the physical risks associated with climate change.
Lucy Matchett • 29/09/2021
Urban Bike Share Rack
Insights

The City That Moves Stays Healthy

We move too little. Both the city and its inhabitants. While the population density in the cities is growing. 
Jos Hesselink • 27/07/2021
Kalverstraat card image
Insights

Kalverstraat in 2030

The Kalverstraat as the aorta of the new business district that is developing in the center of Amsterdam. Where old business comes back in new form, because the businessman and woman is back in town!
Jos Hesselink • 17/06/2021
City profiler image card
Insights

City profiler

Today, we can better see urban policy makers as 'city profilers'. They must make the right connections to arrive at future-proof solutions for our cities in the coming decades.
Frank van der Sluys • 27/05/2021
De stad na COVID
Insights • Sustainability / ESG

The city after COVID-19

COVID-19 shows our vulnerability. At the same time, it gives us insight into how we should improve the quality of life in our cities in a future-proof way. Anticipating population growth, climate change, health and our continuing need to live, work and stay in cities.
Jos Hesselink • 22/04/2021
De Randstad loopt leeg card
Insights

The Randstad is emptying out

The initial cause of this has everything to do with supply and demand. For years there has been a chronic shortage of affordable housing in the Randstad, the economic heart of the Netherlands. This applies to both starters in the buyers' market and middle incomes in the tenant market.
Jos Hesselink • 25/03/2021
Auto de stad uit card
Insights • Sustainability / ESG

City streets should not have cars

The arrival of the car has radically changed the spatial development of our cities and the infrastructure in the Netherlands.
In order to bring cars and freight traffic safely and quickly from A to B, highways and motorways, bridges and viaducts, traffic lights and pedestrian crossings were necessary.
Jos Hesselink • 25/02/2021
Groene steden
Insights • Sustainability / ESG

A city full of green is not valued enough

A green environment or fresh air is not often a reason to live in a city, rather the opposite. It is often a reason to escape the city at the weekend and visit nature, or even to live elsewhere.
Jos Hesselink • 04/02/2021
Ruimtelijke ordening
Insights

The future-proof city

The value of the city lies in its future-proofness. In order to be able to anticipate the needs of the time, vision and ambition are needed as guidelines for strategic area development.
Jos Hesselink • 09/12/2020
Ode aan de woningcorporaties
Insights

Ode to the housing association

We are faced with a major challenge to ensure that living in the city remains affordable and thus retains its soul and that we feel connected to the city in which we live.
Jos Hesselink • 12/11/2020

CAN'T FIND WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING FOR?

Get in touch with one of our professionals.
With your permission we and our partners would like to use cookies in order to access and record information and process personal data, such as unique identifiers and standard information sent by a device to ensure our website performs as expected, to develop and improve our products, and for advertising and insight purposes.

Alternatively click on More Options and select your preferences before providing or refusing consent. Some processing of your personal data may not require your consent, but you have a right to object to such processing.

You can change your preferences at any time by returning to this site or clicking on Cookies.
MORE OPTIONS
Agree and Close
These cookies ensure that our website performs as expected,for example website traffic load is balanced across our servers to prevent our website from crashing during particularly high usage.
These cookies allow our website to remember choices you make (such as your user name, language or the region you are in) and provide enhanced features. These cookies do not gather any information about you that could be used for advertising or remember where you have been on the internet.
These cookies allow us to work with our marketing partners to understand which ads or links you have clicked on before arriving on our website or to help us make our advertising more relevant to you.
Agree All
Reject All
SAVE SETTINGS