Housing is a right, not a privilege. Yet more and more people are forced to live insecurely, with temporary rental contracts, poor quality of housing and unaffordable rents. This growing group – the precarious tenants – is made to understand that precarious housing is normal, but we at BPW disagree.

The campaign for 2025 has started! The social debate and social struggle against the annual rent increase has begun. In this first newsletter of 2025 we will inform you of the developments and what you can already do in the fight against high rents.

In 2025, tenants can expect a rent increase of up to 5% in the social sector, 7.7% in the mid-range rental sector and 4.1% in the private sector. After the highest rent increase in 30 years in 2024, another mega rent increase will follow in 2025! The reprehensible income-related rent increases of €50 or €100 will also be maintained. While our wages have been and are being kept low for decades, the rent has increased enormously. These were the years in which housing was turned into a market. A quarter of tenants live below the poverty line and another large part cannot make ends meet financially, partly as a result of the excessively high rent. They have to cut back on basic needs in order to be able to pay the housing costs. With this policy, we are perpetuating inequality, insecurity of existence and the housing crisis. We demand lower rents!

In this newsletter:

Invitation BPW Members Day March 15, 2:00 PM, Basic Contemporary Art (BAK) in Utrecht.
Workshop 'Poldered out: what does the housing struggle movement do?', 2dh5 festival, Amsterdam, March 2, 1:30 PM – 2:45 PM.
Webinar: Self-organization and action planning, March 6, 7:30 PM.
Knowledge and tools in the BPW Member Portal.
Save the date: demonstration for rent reduction, May 10 at 2:00 PM in Utrecht.

The attack on social tenants – a scandalous course of action by the Minister of Housing and Spatial Planning
The recent statement by Minister Keijzer (BBB) of Housing and Spatial Planning (03:24:30 to 03:25:10), in which she calls on municipalities to build no more than 30% social housing units, is a direct attack on social tenants and home seekers. It demonstrates a glaring lack of insight into the housing crisis in the Netherlands. With her statement, she legitimizes a policy that gives large landowners, project developers and parasitic investors ample room to build exorbitantly expensive housing. Given the acute housing shortage that hundreds of thousands of people are experiencing, this is not only ill-considered; it is a direct attack on people in the most vulnerable position: homeless people and people with a lower income.

Action against evictions from Ravellaan by Socius and the municipality of Utrecht, January 29, Utrecht.
Action for privacy and against evictions by Ad Hoc and the municipality of Roosendaal, February 6, Den Bosch.
Action campaign against rent increases in 2025.
BPW webinar Tenancy law: how and what? January 21.
Residents of the Busseltje in Reusel claim housing security and celebrate!
House rules.
Renewed Webshop.

Ruben lives in an old annex of a school building of the municipality of Roosendaal that is rented out by the Ad Hoc anti-squat agency. He and his 10 fellow residents are repeatedly confronted with excessive inspections of their home by Ad Hoc. When they announced another inspection at Christmas, they had had enough. Ruben replaced his lock and is participating in the action campaign “Refuse the inspector, put another lock on your door”. Now Ad Hoc is threatening to put Ruben out on the street because he wants to protect and demands his privacy. On February 6 at 2:00 PM, the BPW and Ruben will hand over their demands for privacy, peace and security of residence at Ad Hoc in Den Bosch, Emmaplein 2a. Show your solidarity!

Residents of the Bomenland flat in Den Bosch have successfully rejected the huge rent increase that the Swedish real estate magnate Heimstaden – who owns the residential complex – wanted to implement this summer.

Webinars Tenancy Law, Self-organization & Action Planning and Media Lobby & Research. Invitation BPW Christmas drinks, dinner & bands | December 21 in Den Bosch. Militant meeting of housing activists in Barcelona. Residents from Reusel celebrate success