Apples and oranges: recent innovations in housing asset management in the Netherlands

In the late 1980s and the early 1990s, Dutch housing associations became increasingly independent from the government. Before, the sector was largely government-dominated, through regulations, loans and subsidisation. Nowadays, housing associations have to finance their activities with capital market loans, cannot rely on object subsidies anymore and have an increased administrative autonomy. The shift in the political environment has been followed by a wide range of innovations, in which housing associations seek, among others, to reduce financial risks, to improve their knowledge of market developments, to develop a more client-driven policy and to diversify their services. In this paper we discuss the innovations that housing associations have developed in the asset management of the existing housing stock. Using Walker et al. (2001), who published an extensive research on the innovative capacity of English housing associations, we typify the innovations that we may expect. Then, we present the results of a case study research in the Netherlands, held among nine large housing associations in 2003. We deal with the innovations that have been developed and classify them. From these innovations we draw some preliminary conclusions on the pace of innovation among Dutch housing associations as far as asset management is concerned.