Workers’ houses destroyed in the Netherlands

This is a video about a demonstration in 2008 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, against demolition of affordable houses.

From DutchNews:

Housing corporations demolish cheap homes

Wednesday 02 December 2009

The country’s biggest housing corporations removed 11,000 cheap homes from their books last year, according to research by the Volkskrant.

The 25 big corporations reduced the supply of homes with rents below €350 a month by 55 to 221,000 last year. At the same time, the number of more expensive rents rose 13% to 43,000, the paper said, without defining ‘expensive’.

Housing corporations argue it is no longer cost effective to offer cheap houses because they are too expensive to maintain.

Forced

But housing activists say locals are unhappy about the way their neighbourhoods are being demolished. ‘Many people don’t want to leave their homes but are forced to do so by the corporations,’ said René van Genugten of the tenants’ association Woonbond.

Corporations have to offer tenants equivalent housing in the same neighbourhood or elsewhere if their homes are scheduled for demolition.

The Socialist Party claims in the Telegraaf that 190,000 rent controlled properties have been demolished over the past 20 years.