International

In Rotterdam on the 17th of October, we took a stand together against the housing crisis. We demand affordable housing. Houses are for people, not for profit.  Together we stood up against those who have turned our homes into a 'housing market'. But the profiteering from rents should end. In order to do this, we need to destroy investors’ power, cap rent, abolish landlord levies, and build affordable housing. 

When we stand strong together, we can no longer be ignored. This past year on the 1st of July, the rents of social housing and student accomodation were frozen. This hadn’t happened since 1959.  The rent freeze on the 1st of July didn't come about without a struggle. The SP campaigned together with tenants for more than a year. Using the slogan '0 is enough', the SP organised an online demonstration in The Hague in which thousands of tenants from all over the country took part. The SP rent freeze proposal was passed three times in the Senate. Minister Ollongren refused to implement it, triggering a historical motion of censure. In the end, the Dutch House of Representatives voted in favour of the rent freeze proposal, which was then implemented on the 1st of July.

For a long time now, the SP has been campaigning with the public for better housing conditions. For example with the residents of the Tweebos neighbourhood in Rotterdam. Mustapha, Mirjam and Edwin live there. Their houses are being demolished and replaced by expensive housing. Houses that many people can't afford, driving people with low incomes out of the city. Lilian Marijnissen visited them in Rotterdam. Watch the video here.