Social Housing and Social Exclusion in the Netherlands

After a hesitant start, the debate on poverty and social exclusion gained a firm position on the agenda in the Netherlands. When the issue emerged in Europe, the initial position of the Dutch was that their low-income households were guaranteed to meet their basic needs by the rather generous social security system, national health insurance, as well as the large social rented sector. Poverty was supposed to be absent. Nevertheless, the debate gained momentum rapidly. One reason was a highly publicized statement by one of the Catholic bishops in the Netherlands who quoted the biblical phrase t... Mehr ...