Going Dutch – self-regulation and the problems of housing associations in the Netherlands

The Conservatives’ plans for social housing will re-open the debate over regulation: if the TSA is abolished, many in housing associations (and certainly the National Housing Federation) will advocate self-regulation on the Dutch model. Meanwhile the housing associations in the Netherlands are having some problems.

Last week it was reported that Dutch housing associations had posted an average loss of €1.2m - the first time the sector has failed to make a profit in well over a decade. This will put under strain the sectors own arrangements to rescue troubled associations. While the financial problems may be largely outside the control of the associations, the self-rescue and the self-regulation arrangements tend to support each other.