Youth organisations want housing benefit from the age of 18

All political parties are promising to tackle the housing crisis as the parliamentary elections approach. However, when doing so, they should also keep the interests of young people in mind, says a manifesto published by the National Student Union, CNV Jong, FNV Young & United and the Housing Association. 

‘Just building more housing will not solve the crisis,’ the manifesto states. The organisations would also like to discourage vacancies through taxation. It should become more expensive to own an additional home in a large city such as Amsterdam and barely use it. Young people hope that this measure will free up more homes for them.

They also advocate an adjustment to the rent allowance. Young people aged up to 23 only receive this benefit if their rent costs up to 477 euros. When they turn 23, the amount is doubled to 954 euros, which the signatories of the manifesto consider unfair.

Rooms
Additionally, the rent allowance only applies to independent dwellings, such as studios. Young people living in rooms are not entitled to the benefit. Though the manifesto does not mention this, the LSVb has always been in favour of allowances being extended for room rentals.

Last week, a survey showed that more and more students in the Netherlands are giving up looking for a room and staying at their parents'. According to housing professor Peter Boelhouwer, the housing shortage is partly due to various government regulations concerning fixed-term tenancy agreements, profit tax, and shared housing. As a result, landlords prefer to put their properties up for sale.

Owner-occupied homes
The four unions also want the controversial mortgage interest deduction to be abolished. They argue that this would help young people who want to buy their first homes.

Opinions on this issue vary widely among politicians. While parties such as PVV and VVD want to retain this scheme (according to VVD, it is ‘an important instrument for bringing stability to the housing market’), parties like GroenLinks-PvdA, D66 and CDA are arguing for its gradual phasing out.

‘Young people are greatly affected by the price-driving effect of this tax deduction,’ says policy officer Maarten Wiedemeijer, from the Housing Association. ‘Mortgage interest relief mainly benefits people with high incomes. Because so much money goes to them, the prices of owner-occupied homes are driven up and the housing market becomes less accessible to first-time buyers.’

The youth unions have additional proposals, including higher taxes on vacant houses and second homes. The latter would involve a levy on holiday homes, for example, emphasises Wiedemeijer. The idea is not to cause problems for landlords renting out student accommodation.