Very happy and proud that the rent increase for social housing for 2025 and 2026 will not take place and will therefore be frozen and also great that we have reserved a billion euros for a grocery bonus by increasing the rent allowance!

 Geert Wilders

@geertwilderspvv

Erg blij en trots dat de huurstijging voor de sociale huurwoningen voor 2025 en 2026 niet doorgaat en dus worden bevroren en ook geweldig dat we een miljard euro hebben gereserveerd voor een boodschappenbonus middels het extra verhogen van de huurtoeslag!

 

Geert Wilders

@geertwilderspvv

Very happy and proud that the rent increase for social housing for 2025 and 2026 will not take place and will therefore be frozen and also great that we have reserved a billion euros for a grocery bonus by increasing the rent allowance!

Amsterdam housing corporations: freezing rents in the social sector is 'biggest nightmare'

16 April 2025, 16.36 · Updated 16 April 2025, 19:41 · By: Daphne Adrichem

https://www.at5.nl/nieuws/232032/amsterdam-woningcorporaties-bevriezen-huurprijzen-nachtmerrie

 

Good news for the purchasing power of tenants, but Amsterdam housing corporations are very unhappy with the agreement reached today by the coalition parties to freeze rents within the social sector. In 2025 and 2026, rents will not increase further and the rent allowance - by an as yet unknown amount - will also be increased. 

 

After more than 24 hours of consultation, the government parties finally agreed on the Spring Memorandum this morning. Geert Wilders (PVV) was the first to come out with the news. "Very happy and proud that the rent increase for social housing for 2025 and 2026 will not take place and will therefore be frozen," can be read in an online post on X. Good news for the tenant in the social sector, who will no longer have to pay for the time being. But the housing corporations call the plans an 'unpleasant surprise'.

 

'Biggest nightmare'

According to the Amsterdam Federation of Housing Corporations (AFWC), the measure has far-reaching consequences for home seekers in Amsterdam and for existing tenants. "Housing corporations need the extra rental income for maintenance, renovation and sustainability. Due to the lack of rent increases, the income of the corporations for these activities does not increase, while the costs have increased in recent years and continue to rise." According to the umbrella organization, tackling mold houses, high heating costs and maintenance will be put on the back burner. In addition, the corporations can borrow less money to build houses, which affects house hunters.

 

"This decision has far-reaching consequences for home seekers in Amsterdam"

 

Anne-Jo Visser, director of AFWC

 

Director of AFWC, Anne-Jo Visser, calls the rent freeze 'the biggest nightmare that comes true'. "This decision has far-reaching consequences for home seekers in Amsterdam. They are already having a hard time finding a home and this will make it even more difficult." Visser also emphasizes that the AFWC is dismayed that the cabinet does not adhere to the so-called National Performance Agreements. "In times of a housing crisis, both affordable rents and sufficient investment capacity for corporations are needed." For 2025, the AFWC had aimed for a maximum rent increase of 4.5 percent that will take effect on 1 July, in accordance with Nibud's advice.

 

The housing corporations in Amsterdam account for about forty percent of all homes in Amsterdam. The AFWC includes the Alliantie, DUWO, Eigen Haard, Habion, Lieven de Key, Rochdale, Stadgenoot, Ymere and Woonzorg Nederland. Together, they offer around 191,000 rental homes in the city.

 

The AFWC says that the Amsterdam corporations are still investigating in detail what the exact consequences will be for their finances in 2025 and 2026. It is not yet clear where the money for the measures drawn up in the Spring Memorandum will be obtained from which the coalition parties will be announced. A billion euros would have been earmarked for an additional increase in the rent allowance.