The Dutch Social Housing And Housing Associations In Twentieth Century

Walking in the Netherlands, no one cannot surprised at the Dutch social housing, they are so high quality, looked so new, covered so many different groups of people, and no other countries have such a large percentage social housing sector. It is rooted in the20th century, or even much earlier.Housing associations was emerged in the middle of19th century, they affected as philanthropic organizations, some of them worked for the poor people, but more of them just for improving the living condition of their members, this was part of the reason why the social housing in the Netherlands are in good quality. In the20th century, because of the intervention, especially after publishing of the Housing Act in1901, many of hosing associations were set up rapidly. And under the framework of government laws and institutions, the quantity and quality of social housing were improved. In this period, housing associations were acted as authorized private initiatives. After the Second World War, because of the damage of war, recovery of economy after war and the increasing of population, the quantity of housing met serious shortage, so that the government started to intervene. The government paid more attention on building new housing via financing and supervising, then the number of accommodation raised fast. In1970s, the serious shortage was relived gradually, however it also became the heavy finical burden for the government, especially they wanted to develop economy, and Dutch government started to deregulate the housing sector, privatize housing and liberalize housing associations. Dutch government were still the leader in social housing sector until implement of Social Rental Sector Management Decree in1993and "Balancing-out" in1995. This article is aimed to expound the developmental progress of Dutch social housing and housing associations in20th century. I will talk about the background of Dutch social housing and housing associations, the evolution of the influence of Dutch government, the role and the impact of social housing. For this purpose, it is divided into several phases. The whole thesis is constructed by preface, main part and epilogue:Preface introduces the research purpose and significance of this thesis, as well as main concepts and current situation of the research at home and abroad. The exploration on relationship between social housing, welfare and state is the valuation of this article. The claim of terms and analysis of current situation of the research at home and abroad demonstrate how the materials were accumulated and the thinking path. The research of Dutch social housing has already been a hot topic, so there are many English books and articles; this partly makes up the disadvantage of that I cannot read Dutch documents. Researches on Dutch social housing abroad gave me many research materials, while filling up the research shortage at home is my research direction.The main part is constituted by four chapters.The first chapter is about the background of the development of Dutch social housing and housing associations, for it would be incomprehensible if it is separated from the macro back ground. Many factors influent Dutch policies of social housing, for example, Industry Revolution, the Second World War, depression and prosperous of economy, and pillarization of the society. At the time, the development of housing associations also reflects different housing policies and social background.The second chapter is about social housing and housing associations from the issuing the Housing Act in1901to1945. In this period, Dutch social housing and housing associations really start to develop. The housing problems of working classes promoted the government issued the law, from then on, the percentage of Dutch social housing increased continuously and housing associations developed rapidly.The third chapter is from the post-war time to1969. In this period, serious housing shortage made construction become the main task. State government became the leader in social housing sector, and housing associations were the enforcement organizations.In the fourth chapter, from1970s to the end of20th century, this stage is the turning point. The Netherlands did lots of work on urban renewal, from modernizing to renovating. The state started to promote privatizing housing, and the scale of own-ship housing began to rise. Government started to withdraw from housing sector, meanwhile the liberation of housing associations began.Epilogue summarizes the development of Dutch social housing and housing associations, further analysis the reason why Dutch housing privatization was so slow compared with other Europe countries. At the end, also try to relate the topic with Chinese housing issue.