Too high prices, too little supply or unclear information: almost ninety percent of Dutch young people between the ages of 18 and 29 experience problems when looking for a home. That became apparent on Tuesday a national survey of State of Youth NL, an initiative of children’s rights organization KidsRights, in collaboration with three other organizations, in which almost 3,000 young people participated. “Our research confirms the view that young people are the victims of the current crisis,” the researchers said.
According to the research, two-thirds of young people still (unintentionally) live with their parents or caregivers. In addition, a large proportion are postponing their life plans and the vast majority believe that it will be (very) difficult to find housing. “I’m just left out of everything and the municipality doesn’t help or doesn’t help much, so I’m still basically homeless,” is an experience of one of the (anonymous) respondents. Two in ten young people say they feel lonely or socially isolated without their own housing.
The situation on the housing market is also stressful for young people who already live on their own. “I have moved 8 times in 1 year, and therefore never have a permanent place to live. This has also partly caused mental problems for me, such as depression,” someone else shares. Apart from the high rental prices that cause stress – more than half of young people mention prices as a stress factor – the uncertainty also causes difficulties. For example, fear of landlords terminating the lease or homelessness after studying are problems that young people experience. “My room has a permit for students only, and if I don’t find anything else just before
I’m done [met mijn studie] I will become homeless,” said one of the respondents.
No answer
More than three hundred MBO students participated in the study. One in five spoke of exclusion by housing providers due to their level of education. According to a previously published national student housing surveytwenty percent of all MBO students live away from home and only nine percent live in student housing. This inventory shows that the vast majority of MBO students do not yet feel the need to leave home. About five percent indicate that they do not live on their own because they cannot find suitable housing.
In 2023, youth professionals already noted a growing distrust among young people towards the government. This skepticism was partly inspired by the housing crisis. Young people saw a lack of future prospects and felt unheard. This recent study shows the same thing.
On a scale of 0 to 100, young people give an average score of thirty for the way they are heard.
For the first time in decades, the housing protest received broad support again in 2021. Then about fifteen thousand people came to the demonstration in Amsterdam. Since then there have been regular demonstrations that are often attended by young people. According to the government, there will be 2024 a shortage of approximately 400,000 homes.
Also read
Tens of thousands of additional living spaces possible within existing housing stock corporations