Housing

Amsterdam knows the typical phenomenon of former politicians playing an important role in the supervision of housing corporations, NUL20 wrote six years ago. This has not changed since: the number of supervisory board members with a political background has in fact risen slightly. In 2010, large housing corporations in Amsterdam had on average 1.7 politicians serving on the supervisory board, compared to 1.1 nationally.

Jos Gadet, senior urban planner at the Amsterdam Municipality, argues for diverse neighbourhoods with high population density. Monotonous, spacious neighbourhoods such as Julianapark and the Western Garden Cities prevent Amsterdam developing into a metropolis. According to Gadet, one cannot fulminate enough against the proponents of the garden city. And he takes that task upon himself in his new book Terug naar de stad.

If the Navy vacates its Kattenburg Complex, the terrain can be used to build houses for affluent Amsterdammers, Frank van Dalen (VVD) argues. Amsterdam has a large share of low-income residents, but gradually, the city is offering more room to the well to do.