Refugee households are one in five starters in social housing, up from 9% in 2018
Statistics Netherlands (CBS) says 21% of starters on the housing market who moved into a housing association home in 2024 were households with a status holder.
Of all starters on the housing market who moved into a housing association home in 2024, 21% were households with a status holder, a refugee with a residence permit, CBS figures show. In 2018 the share was 9%.
Refugee households starting out in social housing rose from 3,500 in 2018 to 8,800 in 2024
Thousand households · 2018–2024
Refugee households starting out in social housing rose from 3,500 in 2018 to 8,800 in 2024 (thousand households). From 3.5 in 2018 to 8.8 in 2024; highest 8.8 in 2024, lowest 3.2 in 2019. Source: CBS.
View data
| Period | Thousand households |
|---|---|
| 2018 | 3.5 |
| 2019 | 3.2 |
| 2020 | 3.2 |
| 2021 | 6.2 |
| 2022 | 6.9 |
| 2023 | 8.2 |
| 2024 | 8.8 |
Two thirds (67%) of the status holder households that moved into a housing association home in 2024 were starters, up from 39% in 2018. A home became vacant after the move for 16% of these households, against just over half of other households.
Two thirds of refugee households moving into social housing are starters, against a fifth of other households
% of households that moved in, 2024
Two thirds of refugee households moving into social housing are starters, against a fifth of other households (% of households that moved in, 2024). Highest: Households with a status holder, 66.8; lowest: Other households, 22.1; 2 items. Source: CBS.
View data
| Item | % of households that moved in, 2024 |
|---|---|
| Households with a status holder | 66.8 |
| Other households | 22.1 |
Just over 8% of all housing association homes that became vacant in 2024 went to households with at least one status holder. That is just over 13,000 homes, about the same as a year earlier.
Most of the households that moved into a housing association home were people living alone, two in three. Of those, 8% had a status holder, against 7% a year earlier. Among couples with children 21% had a status holder in the family, against 23% a year earlier.
Flevoland had the highest share of vacated homes going to status holders, at 12%. Het Gooi en Vechtstreek followed with 11% and Utrecht with 10%. In Delfzijl en omgeving it was under 1%.
At the end of 2024 there were 2.2 million housing association homes. In just over 48,000 of them, one in 40 (2.4%), a household with a status holder lived, up from 2.2% in 2023.
Follow the story: woningcorporatie
CBS (Centraal Bureau voor de Statistiek)
Statistics Netherlands, the independent government body that produces the official statistics on the Dutch economy and society.
woningcorporatie
Housing associations are non-profit organisations that own and manage rental homes, mostly for households with lower incomes. They operate under the Housing Act (Woningwet), which requires them to keep their core business focused on affordable housing. They make up a large part of the Dutch social rental sector.
statushouder
A status holder is a person who has applied for asylum in the Netherlands and has been granted a residence permit as a refugee or under subsidiary protection. This permit gives the right to live, work and study in the Netherlands. Status holders are often placed in municipalities through the national dispersal system and then look for their own housing.