© 2004, Dick Schuiling, Dr. Jeroen van der Veer, Amsterdam Federation of Housing Associations, The Netherlands. All rights reserved. No part of this paper may be reproduced, distributed, published, or transmitted without the prior permission of the copyright owner. 1 Governance in Housing in Amsterdam and the Role of Housing Associations Mr. Dick Schuiling and Dr. Jeroen van der Veer, Amsterdam Federation of Housing Associations, Amsterdam, The Netherlands 1 Paper for the International Housing Conference in Hong Kong 2004, organised by the Hong Kong Housing Authority, 2-4 February, 2004 Introduction The position of the private not-for-profit social housing (providers) in The Netherlands is extraordinary. This country has the highest percentage of social housing (35%) in the European Union (see figure 1), which has nothing to do with prevailing poverty or socialism, and in the larger cities this share is even much higher. All this social - not: public - housing is for rent and there is no Right-to-Buy. The 1990s housing reform in The Netherlands did not result in a sharp decline in the share of social housing. But the way it is governed and controlled changed dramatically in the last decade. In the capital city, Amsterdam, the 14 Housing Associations (HAs) own 55 % of the total stock and have a share of almost 80% in the new house production. This paper argues that housing policy in Amsterdam can be characterised by a situation of governance instead of government. There is a mutual dependency between local government and housing associations. The latter play an important and innovative role in local housing policy. Firstly this paper will describe the position of the Dutch social housing sector in international perspective and the restructuring in the 1990s. Secondly we analyse the position of the social housing sector in Amsterdam and the mismatch on the Amsterdam housing market. By doing so we give an overview of the context in which HAs operate. Thirdly we get to the main topic of this paper, the mutual dependency between local government and HAs in Amsterdam. This mutual dependency is elaborated in three fields, namely new construction, transformation and allocation. Finally we will analyse the financial challenges that are faced by the HAs. Social housing in The Netherlands In several countries the restructuring of the welfare state has resulted in a fast decline of the social rented housing sector and a change from a broad system to a means tested system. Harloe (1995, p. 7) described two models of social housing provision: the ‘mass’ and the ’residual’ model. Many countries of the ‘mass’ model type gradually transformed into the ‘residual’ type in contrast to The Netherlands. The United Kingdom is a clear example. The size of the social rented housing sector in the UK declined because of the sale of public housing. 1 This paper doesn’t necessarily represent the viewpoints of the Amsterdam Federation of Housing Associations, since it has been written on personal title.