Bringing new ideas to housing research

‘Generation Rent’ refers to the disproportionate presence of young people in the private rental sector due to declining access to homeownership, a phenomenon that first emerged in the liberal housing systems of the United Kingdom and the United States. This study examines whether the concept is also relevant in more government-steered housing systems, such as that of the Netherlands. Drawing on data from the large-scale Dutch housing needs surveys (WoON), we find that while the Dutch system long resisted tendencies associated with Generation Rent, the past 15 years of neoliberal policies have significantly altered this trajectory. The outcome is growing inequality between the young adults who achieve homeownership, often through intergenerational support, and those who remain in the rental sector. To mitigate this divide, we propose revitalising the rental sector and introducing tenure-neutral housing policies.

Transdisciplinarity has become an increasingly prominent concept in addressing today’s complex societal challenges and is often invoked as a buzzword in grant proposals. But how can a transdisciplinary approach to housing be implemented? This contribution presents a systematisation of our experiences in an EU-funded project, which could serve as a starting point for similar processes. Key to the use of such an approach is creating an understanding of societal challenges by bringing together insights from different disciplines and fields of knowledge in academia and practice. Our main conclusion was that preconditions are just as important as the design of the transdisciplinary process, and these preconditions include gaining an understanding of the needs and specificities of the stakeholders. Furthermore, a “three types of knowledge model” for organising knowledge exchange processes, adopted from the Swiss school of transdisciplinarity, enabled the redefinition of challenges and the identification of new perspectives and strategies for change in practice.

Throughout the European Union governments have reduced their investment in social housing, a trend that has also affected the Netherlands. Providers of social rental housing have faced policy changes that have challenged the dominant role in the unique Dutch unitary rental market regime. This paper examines the extent to which a revival of this dominant role can be attributed to the government’s recent interventions. It contextualises the subsequent challenges facing the housing market currently and in the future based on a review of relevant literature, policy documents, and input from interviewed experts. The largely qualitative interpretation shows that recent government interventions have given providers of social rental housing back some of the previous autonomy they had lost in terms of financing and regulation. We argue that providers of social rental housing are regaining a more important role in providing housing for low- and medium-income groups.