This week, the Filmmaker and the Advocate are in conversation with Gert Jan Bakker of WOON. Amsterdam used to have strong rent control policies that protected tenants. But a neo-liberal government changed all that - selling off social housing stock to private corporations, and favoring landlords over tenants, and allowing rents to increase drastically. Apartments that once rented for 600 euros a month increased to over 2,000, driving people out of the city. The national government still believes the market will right all wrongs, but rents are going up with no sign of relief.
But national politics are not standing in the way of the City government's vision for Amsterdam. In a city of 900,000 with 4.5 million visitors every year, and with 1 in 15 dwellings in Amsterdam registered as short-term rentals, short-term rental accommodation, The Filmmaker and the Advocate discuss the city's push back against the short-term rentals industry. The city is fighting to regulate Air BnB to protect popular neighborhoods from being overrun with short-term rental properties, going so far as to ban Air BnB in central zones of the city. They are now litigating the matter - and to Gert's mind, it's one of many fights worth having. He's also preoccupied with the city struggle to preserve its way of life for local residents. Financialization has tightened its grip, with private corporations spending hundreds of millions of euros buying up thousands of properties. Amsterdam is truly under siege, but will it survive?
Produced by WG Film
Recorded & Edited by Mikey Jones
Music by Florencia Di Concilio
Social Media & Support - Maja Moberg