Comment by zaphar

13 days ago

It is my understanding that they didn't in fact "Just build more" so how would they know it was or wasn't working?

9 comments

zaphar

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cyberax  13 days ago

They did. The Netherlands added more than 1 million new units between 2012 (8,425,398 units) and 2025 (9,486,933 units). Source: https://opendata.cbs.nl/#/CBS/en/dataset/81955ENG/table

During that time, the population grew from 16785299 to 17722333.

So they literally built MORE houses than the increase in population! Yet it's somehow a "housing crisis".

  • LaurensBER  12 days ago

    > So they literally built MORE houses than the increase in population! Yet it's somehow a "housing crisis".

    You need to account for:

    - Existing deficit

    - The changing demographics, people are more likely to (prefer to) live alone putting more stress on the housing market

    - The location

    More young people are single and more old people prefer to live alone.

    At the same time the housing crisis in Groningen might be less severe than in Amsterdam which is not visible in the nationwide numbers.

    For a young single person in Amsterdam the situation will definitely feel like a crisis.

    • cyberax  12 days ago

      I can address your arguments point-by-point, but think about this. I clearly demonstrated that it's NOT the "just build more" issue. There are more housing units per household than ever in the US (and in the Netherlands).

      So there's clearly something else going on.

      And what makes you think that just building even more housing without understanding the underlying reasons can solve the issue of the soaring costs?

  • brailsafe  13 days ago

    I feel like relying so much on supply is a farce if the supply is always able to be bought up by people who are already rich and able to continue owning everything by outcompeting working people. Building more has started to mean little to me if we (as in arbitrary municipalities or governing bodies) don't treat it as a special market in which people can't just buy as many as they want