The Netherlands has developed an interesting approach to its housing and asylum crises: make life increasingly uncertain for refugees and hope that, somehow, more houses appear. Under rules introduced in June 2026, new asylum residence permits are valid for three years instead of five, while permanent asylum permits are no longer issued. Meanwhile, politicians have pursued the abolition of the Spreidingswet, the law designed to distribute asylum reception responsibilities among municipalities.
The Council of State warned that abolishing the law could actually worsen reception shortages. Apparently, distributing people across available facilities is an unacceptable administrative burden, whereas repeatedly improvising emergency accommodation is a perfectly reasonable national strategy.
The housing shortage, meanwhile, has been building for years. Refugees did not invent restrictive planning procedures, construction delays or the remarkable Dutch tradition of discussing new housing until the proposed residents qualify for retirement. Yet asylum policy remains a convenient political distraction. A family fleeing war is considerably easier to blame than fifteen years of inadequate housing construction.
Perhaps the next government could solve the housing crisis by shortening everyone's residence permits to three years. The houses would still be missing, naturally. But at least nobody would feel particularly welcome while waiting for one.