Abstract
Rent controls and rent setting regulation in different contexts incorporate and balance different aims, in particular when securing affordability and the effective distribution of scarce housing by incorporating market mechanisms. As rent policy is frequently discussed in terms of affordability or market functioning in broad terms, small-scale distributive socio-spatial effects are often not regarded. In this paper, three strategies under the new rent sum policy are compared against the former policy and practice for Amsterdam, the Netherlands, to observe the effects of distributive justice. The new rent policy partly decentralizes rent increase decisions from the national level to local authorities and housing associations. Using microdata on all social housing units and their tenants’ distributive justice, outcomes under the former policy and practice are observed for a 6-year period (2008–2014) and the effects of three different rent increase strategies under the new rent sum policy are forecasted for the same period, combining an ex ante and an ex post evaluation. The possibilities for housing associations to vary rent increases for different groups of tenants in order to improve distributive justice outcomes are explored. Results show that all three possible strategies decrease the observed affordability gap between new and long-term tenants. Valuing the distributions of these strategies by applying two different standards for distributive justice shows the rent sum policy may only result in modest improvements.
Highlights
Housing affordability has become a central issue on urban agendas around the world due to sky-rocketing house prices and rents, providing profits and opportunities for few while imposing losses and threats to others
Using microdata on all social housing units and their tenants’ distributive justice, outcomes under the former policy and practice are observed for a 6-year period (2008–2014) and the effects of three different rent increase strategies under the new rent sum policy are forecasted for the same period, combining an ex ante and an ex post evaluation
The supply is affected by limiting rents and rent increases, while the efficient use of available means is adjusted by aligning rents and household needs
Summary
Housing affordability has become a central issue on urban agendas around the world due to sky-rocketing house prices and rents, providing profits and opportunities for few while imposing losses and threats to others. Housing associations and municipalities are allowed to jointly install additional criteria for rent increases and are granted significant opportunities to strategize on future rent increases This provides—at least in theory—the potential to adjust the strategy based on socio-spatial specificities in a city and needs of households. 2008–2014 period, the distributive outcomes of three different rent increase strategies of implementing the rent sum policy will be compared to the development under the former policy and practice over the same period. It will be assessed whether housing associations are able to improve the distributive justice outcomes by adopting a specific rent increase strategy. In the last two sections, results are presented and conclusions are drawn
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