As voters head to the polls in the Netherlands on Wednesday, housing, in particular a lack of affordable homes, has become the key issue for a majority of voters.
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00:00 Housing is by far the most important issue at the Dutch elections.
00:07 The lack of affordable homes is topping the list of concerns in the Netherlands as one
00:12 of the country`s most relevant political experts tells Euronews.
00:18 It is the most important issue, I think, because it was neglected a long time. So, we have
00:23 a lot of people, young people, older people. We have, of course, also a lot of migrants
00:30 who need a house in this country. All the parties think it`s very important. Voters think
00:37 it`s very important. But there is no one party that has the solution that voters say this
00:44 is the best solution.
00:47 Several causes are creating a kind of perfect storm. Approximately 390,000 houses are missing
00:55 across the country, according to this professor from Delft University.
01:02 The reason is that we didn`t build so much housing last ten years, so we had a drop in
01:06 housing production and we had a quite steep increase of population because of migration,
01:13 especially labor migration, which is quite high. And last year we had, of course, people
01:17 from the Ukraine, but it`s especially labor migration. So, there`s much more demand for
01:23 housing nowadays than ten years ago and we produce less housing, so that gives a shortage.
01:30 Only in the city of Amsterdam there are about 3,000 so-called homeless people. People without
01:39 particular problems with an ordinary daily life, who lose their home after a separation
01:46 or a divorce and can`t find another one because of the difficulties of the real estate market.
01:52 A program called "Onder de Panne" by the non-profit association De Rijkerbog helps
01:57 these people by matching their needs with house owners who have rooms to spare and can
02:01 rent one at a modest price between 250 and 600 euros per month.
02:07 We try to give them a temporary spot to regain energy, get out of the survival mode of having
02:17 this stress constantly, to be thinking from where am I going to sleep, how am I going
02:23 to keep my job if I cannot shower, where am I going to cook my food, how am I going to
02:28 survive this. We try to give them at least for 12 months a solid spot to get rest and
02:36 help them to find - to make plans for the future.
02:39 De Rijkerbog also tries to accommodate people in empty offices or houses to be renovated
02:44 or demolished. In Amsterdam, renting a flat can be very difficult, but buying it can prove
02:49 impossible. The asking price for a 60 square meter house can go up to as much as 600,000
02:56 euros.
02:56 Yeah.
02:58 (whooshing)