H. Priemus, Social housing as a transitional tenure? Reflections on the Netherlands' New Housing Memorandum 2000-2010, HOUS STUD, 16(2), 2001, pp. 243-256
This contribution gives some reflections on the Netherlands' New Housing Me
morandum 2000-2010, which was published on 15 May 2000. This Housing Memora
ndum urges the housing corporations (the social housing organisations which
own 37 per cent of the housing stock) to sell 500 000 dwellings in 10 year
s. This seems to confirm Harloe's assertion that social housing in Europe i
s only a transitional tenure. Even in the Netherlands-champion of social re
nted housing within the European Union-the owner occupied sector would seem
destined to marginalise the social rented sector in the long run. This pap
er argues that the housing corporations, being private, independent social
entrepreneurs, will be only partially inclined to take the political messag
e of the Housing Memorandum to heart. It is expected that the Dutch social
rented sector will remain a differentiated sector and continue to blossom a
longside home ownership. Harloe's theory will, in short, not be confirmed b
y the housing developments in the Netherlands.