What to do about rising rents? | DW Documentary

[Music] Amsterdam is a top tourist attraction Dilek canals historical sites a laid-back atmosphere each year the city hosts millions of visitors and those visitors need space space the locals are lacking [Music] design Oakville momentum I sometimes think I'm never gonna find somewhere to live I just didn't know what today with Holly man apartments are hard to come by offers are rare and mostly unaffordable you need to be rich if you want to get an apartment here about 1 million residents have to share this limited living space and more and more are having to move out to gray concrete blocks on the city's outskirts I know a guy who had to live under a bridge for a week or in Vondelpark on a bench the housing crisis is spreading across Europe [Music] Wendy by vodkas and stirred em East district like the back of her hand she's lived here for 20 years first as a student on a houseboat and then with her husband and children but now she's getting a divorce and she and her two sons need a new home okay did house ear offering this house here for 1.5 million euros velcroed it's very big three hundred square meters way too big for me wendy has a well-paid job and will soon also be receiving support from her ex-husband in theory she's well situated but the housing market is empty I don't know the price for this one yet I'm afraid it'll be unaffordable too it's all for my over egg by then but it is pretty it's no more it even has a little garden also globe and exceeds if I see something while I'm walking around I immediately thought lease it but most of the time it's already been rented out or it's way too expensive on the feet otherwise I would have found something long ago wendy is hoping word-of-mouth will help her find a new place for now a friend is subletting their apartment to her while they work abroad but not for much longer my boys were born and raised here aqua coid so now they go to school here to make for me your alpha I'm very happy it's one of the most beautiful areas in Amsterdam all my social contacts well most of them live here and that's why I'd like to stay here too yeah but this vital Mikhail have you been temporary sublease agreements are commonplace the housing crisis turns entire lives upside down maze Copeman is one victim he's a reluctant commuter the student lives in Zaandam one of Amsterdam's suburbs every day he bikes to his University for an hour then takes a ferry rain or shine he has no choice I've always felt this pull towards Amsterdam I was born there and went to elementary school there after that we moved away but the mentality there the way of life and all the things you can do there it's so different and much more open his childhood home is close to his heart the only thing is most people from Amsterdam can't afford to live in their own city until yesterday it's so frustrating that I need to take the ferry every day and I'm always at least an hour away from my friends on top of that I still live with my mother so he's off by a mutative only more than half the students in the Netherlands still live with their parents the moment Bennet right now I'm looking for an apartment that I can share with friends we could split the rent it doesn't have to be big it doesn't even have to be pretty just as long as it's here in the city somewhere Erica's in Amsterdam is the University of Amsterdam is bursting at its seams right now more than 100,000 students are enrolled the university's heavily compete for international students their tuition fees bring in more money but there's no place for the students to live and the stress of looking for an apartment keeps them from their studies I know a guy who had to live under a bridge for a week or in Vondelpark on a bench he just kept his luggage in a storage business he stayed in the camping site not prices are ridiculously high you can you have to pay at least six or seven hundred euros for just a simple instance per month Ohman kona hailey simple Akama mace has been looking for 10 months he spends one or two hours each day he even pays 20 euros a month for a professional site to send him listings it helps him avoid scams he says there's 104 held in the housing market is pretty lucrative that attracts criminals they create a web page where they pretend to offer apartments that don't even exist but if I don't know that and I'd register on their page for a fee I'm being cheated of the day from the gun every second website is a criminal website website and speculation is making matters even worse everyone names three reasons for the housing crisis the first Amsterdam is a tourist magnet with nearly 17 million overnight stays every year and the numbers are rising tourists love the picturesque scenery and the relaxed atmosphere many owners prefer to rent to tourists limiting accommodation for locals and hotels pay for rent as songs for building sites even the universities are turning over a profit with prime real estate [Music] the second cause brexit many British firms have been moving to the Netherlands and buying housing for their employees in bulk sometimes they privatize entire blocks [Music] investors like Prince Bernhard jr. are the third reason the cousin of the Dutch King is a real estate millionaire he owns more than 100 prestigious buildings in top locations the only ones who could pay such a high rent are rich managers and celebrities from abroad and they do [Music] to them money is hardly an issue this houseboat is for sale for 1.5 million euros as a vacation getaway now it just needs a quick polish we marker about hundred fifty Grammys we have to level cities we had a man from Argentina this morning so the kind of people who stay for several times in Europe and they choose for Amsterdam and it's nice to have an old habit in Europe accommodation is the highest expenditure in 11 European countries the price per square meter in urban areas rose so sharply in the past year it has become virtually unaffordable for the middle class in Amsterdam one square meter costs about 21 euros London is in first place with 30 euros per square meter and in Paris the most densely populated city in Europe one square meter costs 25 heroes in Rome and Vienna you pay an average of 14 euros which makes Madrid and Berlin look comparatively inexpensive at just 11 euros a place to call home in Amsterdam that's what mace Copeland would like best he's viewing a place far from the city centre in a suburb with good public transportation the whole bath legal but I'm hoping to find a place here with two or three bedrooms I don't come here very often but I want to have a look yeah I kinda thought well kegger for all I hella cool nothing done I'm hoping my chances will be higher here since the area isn't very popular okay come in the washing machine in the hallways communal property all the furniture you see here is brand new okay the kitchen and bathroom are new and unused 65 square meters on two floors all for an incredible two thousand six hundred euros at least mase got to come and have a look around most of the time he's not even invited to a viewing usually the fact that I'm a student is a problem landlords prefer families people who earn money unfortunately students have a bad reputation for not handling their money well and for disturbing the neighbors but even if they split the costs Mays and his friends would still be paying eight hundred seventy euros each that's way too much the apartment looked nice but considering the neighborhood look God and how expensive the rent is and we'd be crazy to take it the may actually climb well cake I should here done for now he's better off staying with his family there he contributes 200 euros for living costs I'm happy that he's still living here but I know that he's really preoccupied with the thought of moving out and I get it he's 20 years old he wants to do his own thing but his circumstances are different than they were for her generation today living on your own in Amsterdam is a luxury more and more young people are choosing not to study because they aren't able to but because they don't want to take out housing loans sky high rents astronomical real estate prices and growing cities the housing market is going crazy and mesas chances of ever moving out are shrinking as a result the suburbs have become boom towns in Amsterdam's southeast district many people from Suriname have come to settle they are the ones who keep the city running as nurses as taxi and bus drivers and his hairdressers but the city has no affordable space for them [Music] Raymond Simmons has lived in Amsterdam for 48 years now 67 he was able to find an inexpensive apartment two rooms a kitchen and bathroom a balcony and even nice neighbors that's what I used to look like that was on a trip with the church group ever since his son moved out he's been offering people in need somewhere to stay you might've seen it you see in Suriname we all help each other out if you don't have a place to stay you will always be offered a bed not made sure to hold on to that mindset anyone with a problem can come to me I've had a woman from Africa stay here then two men from Suriname then a man from the Caribbean and now another one here from Suriname Stephen bong ofoh is currently living with him after suffering a stroke the 58 year old lost his job and couldn't pay the rent an aid organization brought the two men together for now they're sharing the apartment until Stephen can find a place of his own he's been on the waiting list for subsidized housing for seven years the Netherlands offers the most subsidized housing in all of Europe it makes up 30% of the market Austria is proud of the 24% of subsidized housing that puts it in second place in most other European countries it's much lower in Germany it's only 4% and in Portugal only two [Music] all Steven can do is wait and hope my only other option is to stay in a homeless shelter but you'd have to have a screw loose to be able to stand it there and I don't hear at raymond's he pays 250 euros for his room and can use the washing machine bathroom and kitchen [Music] Steven never cooks I don't know if he has two left hands but he never uses the kitchen I'm the only one who ever cooks [Music] usually I eat out sometimes we watch soccer together we don't have to become friends when he finds a place of his own and moves out I still keep thinking about him where did he go how is he doing our arrangement is I've helped him and one day he'll leave in peace and when I run into someone in the streets that I've helped before we're happy to see each other and ask how the other is doing sometimes I get a pack of cigarettes as a thank-you homelessness if only temporary has always been an issue in Amsterdam but never like this in the past 10 years the number of homeless people has shot up by 24% [Music] unemployment divorce or illness can force anyone out of their homes evictions canceled lease agreements it happens quicker than you'd think the rainbow group is an aid organization in Amsterdam each week about 30 people at risk of having to sleep on the streets come here for help workers can find them a room they can legally rent on short notice but there is a very high demand it could literally happen to anyone all it takes is one bad turn of luck too many and that makes you lose your home and you cannot find a new place quickly enough it doesn't matter where you're from or how long you've lived there that insecurity that it could happen to anyone is what makes Wendy anxious more anxious than she'd like to admit she's been hunting for a new place ever since she moved out with her sons that was a year and a half ago every morning she checks for new listings online and okay kick this off now I go to this webpage and there it says no longer available I can't read it on the southern famous cake batter holding 40 why would they even list it it's so frustrating run or food that difficulty why do I even bother looking I'm here with Dan cake I can afford a maximum rent of 13 to 1500 euros its holder problem that warning the problem is the landlord's want proof that my salary is four or five times higher for a sir and that income would at least on fear but five 1500 euros rent times five that would mean more than six thousand euros income I have done whoo that's a lot I think I don't earn that much that's how you feel already one in ten households spends more than forty percent of their income on living costs and because the market is so out of control property owners can dictate the rules parents with children have particular difficulties then mid Hill for Houston I've never moved around much I prefer stability I can't even imagine having to leave here this is my spot I like sitting here with my books my book my records everything yeah ah laughs it's my yeah I just need to it might not be my house I mean I don't own it but it is my home my money my house if she can't find a place to rent Wendy is willing to buy a home there's a construction site right around the corner 500 new apartments on the grounds of a former wharf luxury apartments nothing Wendy could afford [Music] for the middle-income us is apartments like these are out of reach for middle-class wages sofa Deena off to Bainer we either earn too little office affiliates Vale or too much survey no it's not enough to buy or rent and it's too much to be eligible for subsidized housing in this we shall avoid and in between there's hardly anything left for the middle class in the past five years real estate prices in Amsterdam have nearly doubled not only in the city center but further out as well there's a lot of interest in this apartment in southern Amsterdam another mass viewing the entry bid is 350,000 euros for 68 square metres here homes are sold to the highest bidder [Music] amudha means you always have to offer at least ten twenty thirty thousand euros more than the asking price if you want to even stand a chance of course that's insane but that's just the way it is there's a lot of competition at the viewings you can sense the pressure from the other potential buyers that makes it even harder to make a good offer everyone is very emotional at least now after them has passed a law barring the use of property solely for the purpose of speculating on the market whoever buys a house now must also move into it themselves and stay there for at least five years in the Netherlands about sixty percent of the population are homeowners Germany on the other hand has the lowest rate of homeowners with just forty five percent in Italy and Ireland about 70 percent on their own home and in the Baltic region it's almost 90 percent your own four walls can be a good solution even if the place is small Stein mertens wants to turn his lack of assets to his advantage he's moving out of the city to live independently and save costs in his very own tiny home he's building his 26 square meter house in Dane bluff I feel like I'm carrying too much baggage around I want to reduce my cost of living so that I can devote more time to the things I really care about so Delta clear yeah so does it call me or come to my heart that I've had the settlements so many people in the Netherlands and in the rest of the world are so stressed out about paying back their mortgage what for or they buy expensive cars just so they can drive to work I think that leads to sacrificing a sense of freedom it makes people less ready to take risks his new home costs 36,000 euros and that's just the cost of the materials Stein is building the tiny home himself it's a modular design like Lego for grown-ups aside from being a part-time handyman Stein is also a music promoter and soon he will also be a homeowner for now he still lives in a 75 square meter subsidized apartment in the city hi come in he's got three times the space here then he will have in his tiny house the rent is 600 euros here you can see gems books and I have a ton of furniture this year is really special to me this was my mother's desk she just passed away recently maybe I can leave it with my sister so that it can stay in the family this is something I'd actually really like to take with me but I can't the house is simply too small here are some of my instruments that's not nearly all of them I've got all sorts of things that I'm emotionally attached to I'm sure I got that from my mother she always said waste not want not but now I'm tackling my biggest challenge I'm going to downsize considerably so I'll have to get rid of a lot the biggest lesson I can learn from this is to let go everything I own can also become baggage but lost sorry and in the past years he's gathered plenty of baggage his moving boxes are piling up so he's been checking online ads checking at thrift shops and also places that take donations he enjoys the thought of giving away the things he can't keep in his new home capito nailer flower collection I've got a record collection I love music and I have so many LPS even my own I recorded it with my band and it means a lot to me for my production the graphics everything about a record makes it a special listening experience but if I'm being honest how often do I actually listen to a record it's nice having them here and sometimes I have a fun evening with friends listening to them but that only happens maybe twice a year is it really worth using all this space for that for a Bovada soon his new home will be in mini topia an entire residential park with tiny homes on a former landfill they named their place mini topia because they knew they were pioneering a new movement here all Stein has is a small bathroom a kitchenette and one big room to live in this Delta thank you sure it'll take some discipline like in the morning I'll have to fold my bed back up and clear away the bedding I like to sleep in so I'll have to remember to put away my bed before going to work or my home will be a mess when I come back with all the school mutational for that he'll be getting a roof terrace with a view and a life without debt all he has to pay is 200 euros a month to lease the plot of land they've been all I spent a long time looking for a place where I could be closer to nature and feel a little freer until now I've always had houses right in front of me I couldn't watch the Sun Rise or see it set now look here look at the Swans things like that bring tears of joy to my eyes [Music] Wendy is also on the verge of tears I still have some standards but for how long I wonder the clock is ticking she has three months to find a new home and there's still nothing in sight it's so frustrating it makes me sad and angry sometimes it almost drives me crazy but I can't let that happen I don't want to let it happen I'll keep staying positive I'm still convinced something will turn up I don't know when or how or where and that's difficult I think it's a lobster my dad but I won't let myself be dragged down by that ex needs anyone who is looking to rent buy or even build is going to need a lot of time a lot of money strong nerves and a lot of luck Amsterdam is just so popular [Music] you

Channel: DW Documentary

Views: 1,753,884

Keywords: documentary, Amsterdam, Netherlands, urban development, gentrification, house hunting, housing market, Tiny House, high rents, cities, poor, homless, unseen, expensive, living, in, Amesterdam, summer, home, flat, apartment, renting, rent, hunting, searching, life, teuer

Id: wLOmZCUr7BQ

Length: 28min 26sec (1706 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 11 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/MidDayGamer]

It's happening everywhere. Friend has two roommates and they are barely scrapping by at this point, got one friend living out in California and the homeless population is getting out of hand.

[u/BloodMossHunter]

airbnb sadly fucked the housing quite a bit during the season

[u/SuccessfulOperation]

Build more [redacted] housing

[u/watchmejump]

Increase housing supply with LVT

[u/Tankninja1]

I mean bend the knee to me and I will start a new Kingdom to unite the relm. We will burn King's Landing New York City to ashes and build a better one.

[u/ArcDriveFinish]

They can fix the rent problem indirectly by fixing traffic problems. Most people don't mind living farther away for cheaper and driving for like 20-30min. But traffic jams usually turn that 20-30 min into an hour to an hour and a half.