Asset management of Dutch social landlords

As part of a more general trend towards privatisation, deregulation and decentralisation of public tasks, housing policy in several Western and Eastern European countries aims to reinforce market-orientation in the social housing system. These reforms had a large impact on the asset management of public and social landlords. In the past, social housing was mainly concerned with the development of new dwellings. Management of the housing stock consisted first of all of day-to-day maintenance and administration. Strategic decisions about investments in the housing stock were mostly made by governments, rather than by individual landlords. Now, landlords in many countries are faced with the challenge to develop their own strategies. Although the precise effects on stock investment and allocation are yet to be determined, we may expect a more dynamic stock policy and an increased importance of market and financial considerations. In this paper, asset management in the Dutch social housing sector is described. The paper deals with rent policy, housing allocation and investment policy. Special attention is paid to rationalisation of decision making about the development of the housing stock. Recent research in this area shows various innovations, but also indicates that the formulation of a strategic asset management is still in its infancy.