Housing Crisis
Despite being one of the richest countries in the world, The Netherlands has not been able to house its
population. As one of the densest populated countries in the world, it has always been difficult to
balance the need for housing with the flow of international capital. Dutch tax law subsidizes mortgages,
which gives tax breaks to those with sufficient income, while the least affluent see their rents rising
as social housing stock is being privatized and sold off. The amount of homeless people has doubled from
2010—2019, and budget cuts on social welfare have increased the amount of people living in
poverty. Currently homeless shelters are underfunded and the aftermath of COVID-19 is likely to see
another rise in people without homes.
At the same time there is an abundance of capital in the housing market. Investments on housing are
booming. While interest rates are historically low, the average return on real estate investment can be
up to 12 percent in urban areas. For those who own real estate, renting out is extremely lucrative.
The Hague had 226,000 Airbnb bookings in 2019, and the private renting market is the only alternative to
buying for many. At the same time 279,000 buildings remain vacant in the Netherlands, which often are
empty offices accumulating value. The city has become a networked zone of exclusion for the privileged
classes who access the financialized real estate market through platforms like Airbnb, Funda, and
others.
During this semester assignment, fourteen students from the Master programme Non Linear Narrative at the
Royal Academy of Art, The Hague collaborated to investigate the housing crisis in the Netherlands
through data. Operating in groups of 2—3 students, they looked into how data and capital shape the
current housing crisis in The Hague. This resulted in five unique narratives that try to make sense of
this complex socio-economic issue. Students were responsible for content, concept, narrative, data
collection, design, and coding.
Expecting Something discusses
the problems
that women face when they get pregnant, a digital
narrative featuring an interview with a pregnant woman who was evicted. Beautiful Trap looks at the
many scammers who operate on the scarce housing market, showing examples of their tactics and
aesthetics.
Social Housing is an historic and
contemporary mapping
of low income housing in The Hague. The
Hague Branding critically analyses a PR document by the municipality, where its contents reveal
a
focus
on attracting high income residents. Reality is
Messy is a
work that scrapes recent newspaper
articles on the housing crisis, as a tool to make sense of this complex issue.
Ruben Pater, tutor Non Linear Narrative, June, 2020
Credits
Supervising tutor: Ruben Pater. Guest tutors: Xiomara Vado Soto, who organized a field trip, and Emile
den Tex who familiarized the students with the data-scraping, the collection and processing of data
sources. This assignment could not have taken place without the help of Xiomara Vado Soto, Emile den
Tex, de Kessler Stichting, het Straatconsulaat, Peter Bos of the Haagse Stadspartij for their
involvement and sharing of their knowledge.
Participating students: Nelleke Broeze, Justine Corrijn, Sophie Czich, Esther van der Heijden, Elif
Tuana Inhan, Jenny Konrad, Lance Laoyan, Marcin Liminowicz, Dario Di Paolantonio, Pablo Perez, Katie
Pelikan, Taisiia Reshetnik, Elinor Salomon, Natalia Sliwinska
Website design and coding: Jenny Konrad
supported by Dario Di Paolantonio and Justine Corrijn, font: Lunchtype
Non Linear Narrative
The Non Linear Narrative at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague (KABK) is a new two-year master's
programme that merges investigative methods of journalism and forensics with processing technologies of
computer science and visual arts. Led by designers Roosje Klap & Niels Schrader together with an
international team of designers, filmmakers, thinkers and guest critics, the programme Non Linear
Narrative aims at a maximum of 15 master's students per year, who will undertake research and
development in order to analyse, gather and present new forms of narrative.
https://www.kabk.nl/opleidingen/master/non-linear-narrative