Housing and governance in the Netherlands

international Conference on social housingMilano, 5th march 2009

Rogier Noyon, board of directors of Stadgenoot

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History of Dutch social housing

— First housing associations 1850-1900— Housing Act 1901 — Large increase in number of housing associations— Small scale— Large production of houses 1916-1925— Production after world war II— Government’s role— 1995, housing associations more or less independent— Building without subsidies

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Today in the Netherlands

— 16,5 million inhabitants— 7 million houses— 4 million owner-occupied houses (56%)— 3 million rented houses (44%)— 2,3 million social houses (33%)

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Today in Amsterdam

— 740.000 inhabitants— 380.000 houses— 103.000 owner-occupied houses (27%)— 277.000 rented houses (73%)— 192.000 social houses (51%)

Stadgenoot

35.000 houses in Amsterdam.

400 new houses each year

Social houses are not profitable

How to build without subsidies?

We are rich!

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72 areas

• 10 areas with relatively many dwellings, strong influence

• 20 average areas/ influence

• 22 areas with little dwelling/ influence

• 20 areas without dwellings/ influence

huur

exploiteren

Our stock as a train

woningen

verkoopnieuwbouw

Our stock as a train

woningen

huur

aankoppelen afkoppelenexploiteren

verkoopnieuwbouw woningen

waardever-zilvering

kwaliteits-verbetering

revolving fund

huur

afkoppelen

Our stock as a trainexploiterenaankoppelen

Stadgenoot

We are rich!

But:

Who owns Stadgenoot?

Nobody!

Regulation by

1 law

2 financing structure

3 self regulation

— Assure good quality in dwellings— Guarantee financial continuity— Priority to special attention groups— Involve tenants in policy and management— Quality of life— Housing of those in need of care

Rules governing social rented sector: BBSH

Financing and guarantee structure

— First security: Central Fund (CFV)— Secondary security: social housing guarantee fund (WSW)— Tertiary security: state backup— Open capital market— Financing by colleagues

Housing Housing organisationorganisation

Housing Housing organisationorganisation

GovernmentGovernmentGovernmentGovernment Local Local authorityauthority

Local Local authorityauthority

TenantsTenants

Rent subsidy

Rent subsidy

RentRent

FinancialFinancial institutionsinstitutionsFinancialFinancial

institutionsinstitutions

CentralCentral FundFund

CentralCentral FundFund

WSWWSWWSWWSW

LoansLoans

Guarantee

Guarantee

SubsidySubsidy

Current issues

— Relationship government vs. social housing organisations (more regulation or opting out): more selfregulation— Production needed, but what about the financial crisis?— Investing in neighbourhoods— Corporate Tax, like the private sector— European dimension— Imageproblem (“associations have lots of – public - money and do nothing”)— Focus on Good Governance in a complex world

Self regulation

Good governance: three items:

- Strong demands on functioning of the board of directors

- Strong demands on functioning supervisory board. More internal control means less or more selective control by the government

- Stuctural proces of sociale accountability towards stakeholders

Tool = Governance Code

Governance Code— Aedes (alliance of housing associations) made the AedesCode in 2002 — The code contains standards for good management, control, transparancy, external responsibility and financial control. What to do and what not!— Guidelines for the internal control (what is a good supervisory board, how many people, how to select them, integrity)

Measuring is knowing:

— examination by an independent external organisation, check on the social and financial preformance)— Benchmarking, comparison to other housing associations

Transparancy: from vertical to horizontal accountability

—Without transparancy no accountability!—Transparancy towards tenants and stakeholders

Examples:

Publish your policy (annual account)

Publish your internal controlsystem (regulation of the board)

Limit the payment of the boardmembers (The Balkenende norm)

Structure Stadgenoot

Board of executives

Supervisory board

tenants

employees

management

Local authorities

stakeholders

Representatives of tenants

2 members

Performance deals

Social anchorage

organisation

Supervisory Board

—Surroundings more complex: quality and professionality on a higher level—Board watches over the principles, housing efforts, finance and relation with stakeholders—Board is sparring partner on a strategic level for the board of directors—Board watches over the integrety within the organisation (based on the governance code)—Not on the chair of the board of directors, but not to far away (proper distance)—Board approves the annual report and the budget —Board is the employer of the board of directors

How good are we in being good?

— Surveys— Conferences— Debate— Publications— Sponsoring— Etc.

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Any questions?