Housing

Tackle the housing crisis

The fact that capitalism is an unjust system is most apparent in Amsterdam’s housing. Hundreds of thousands of people have been on waiting lists for years, and rents and house prices are skyrocketing. The number of homeless people in Amsterdam has also doubled in ten years' time. People with small to medium-sized budgets are increasingly denied their right to the city. The current municipal policy is classist, racist and undemocratic. Amsterdam belongs to all Amsterdammers.

Therefore BIJ1 demands that the municipality immediately stops the displacement of original inhabitants from their neighbourhoods. BIJ1 will stop at nothing to tackle the rising rent prices, the shortage of social housing and the unjust demolition policies. We will always be the ally of residents, squatters and other activists who are leading the resistance of the housing struggle. BIJ1 fully supports existing ideas and groups, such as Verdedig Noord, Actiegroep Bewoners Johan Piet and the squatters' movement. They are vital to unite and connect the city.

To combat the housing crisis, BIJ1 proposes the following:

• Amsterdam enforces a fair national housing policy by putting pressure on the government to:

1. Immediately abolish the property tax levy, the cost-sharing standard, the squatting ban and the tax rebate on mortgage interest for wealthy inhabitants;
2. Increase the access to social housing.
3. Penalise vacant property; and to limit rents in the private sector.

• The municipality does everything in its power to take properties back from problematic private investors, such as landlords and speculative property companies. Vacant property checks should also be carried out more actively and, if discovered, fines should be imposed.
• Holiday rentals via platforms such as Airbnb or Booking.com will be actively discouraged, as they lead to a reduction of the housing supply and increase gentrification.
• BIJ1 rejects the ban on squatting and asks the municipality to overlook and oppose it as much as possible.
• The municipality stops its gentrification policy immediately, by stopping the demolitions unless more than 70% of the residents' committee gives its approval, guaranteeing the right of return for original residents, building social housing in expensive neighbourhoods and making more exceptions to the sharing standard to prevent homelessness (especially among young people).
• An tremendous amount of free labour is done by activists and volunteers in the city in the topic of the housing struggle. Amsterdam puts a minimum number of these people on the payroll per district to be able to make optimal use of their knowledge and advice.
• Amsterdam provides enough satisfactory and affordable housing, among other things by:

1. Adjusting the 40/40/20 rule for construction in the social, middle and free rental segments to 50/40/10: much more social rent will be built.
2. Converting empty office buildings into affordable homes.
3. Discouraging the sale of social housing by housing corporations.
4. Providing more student accommodation and make it a priority to combat (student) landlords.
5. Regulating the free rental sector, in order to reduce rent.
6. Introducing a rental licence with qualification requirements in the free sector.

• Tenants who do not understand or speak the Dutch language should be protected against racism and exclusion.
• The municipality makes immediate evictions on the basis of debt impossible.
• The homeless crisis will be tackled in a serious manner, using the proven Finnish principle of Housing First. Sufficient free shelter will be made available immediately, taking into account the safety and needs of marginalised groups.
• Accessibility (according to the UN Convention on Disability), sustainability and a climate paragraph (with requirements for insulation, solar panels and green energy) are decisive factors in the issuing of building permits by the municipality.