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 Fer Felder
Director at De Principaal, Urban Development Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Fer Felder (1948), the present director of De Principaal, studied architecture in Aachen (Germany). For 5 years he worked for Bredero, at that time the largest and most innovative development & constructionfirm in the Netherlands and was responsible for housing projects in the Netherlands and Nigeria (Lagos, Abudja).
The next 11 years he was member of the board of directors of NCIV (The Netherlands Christian Institute for Social Housing): an umbrella-organisation for housing associations, representing its members vis-a-vis government authorities and advising and supporting them in the actual activities to improve housing conditions in the Netherlands. At present this organisation is called Aedes.
In 1990 Felder joined one of the members, Het Oosten in Amsterdam, to start up a project development-unit, wich was very succesfull in developping new concepts for housing and architecture: Steven Holl, MVRDV, Meyer & van Schooten, Rob Krier, Charles Vandenhove, Jo Crepain a.o. The dutch government awarded Het Oosten the pyramid-prize for housing for its achievements in this area.
After 10 years Felder was asked to join AM Development, a commercial developer (at the stock exchange) and operating in all major european countries, to manage the company for the greater Amsterdam-area and to develop new suburban housing-concepts comparable to new-urbanism projects in the US.
Since june 2004 Felder joined De Principaal, the organisation that received a pyramid for housing the ensuing time.De Principaal's aim is to develop to the highest standard of architecture and the best possible housing solutions for a wide variety of residents. Due to its link to a housing association, De Key, De Principaal is able to commision projects that are at a loss in the present situation, as long as they are expected to be paying in the future and are part of a portfolio that is profitable as a whole.
Short description of presentation: "The Dutch experience: housing associations as the backbone of housing policy with Amsterdam and the Key/Principaal as example"
In 1868 some concerned citizens succeeded in establishing a building society that, with the contributions of its members, aimed at developing affordable housing for working people in Amsterdam. In 2004, through a number of mergers, the Key is a housing association with more than 30.000 dwellings and its own developing department, the Principaal. The name the Key, although very cosmopolitan, in reality refers to Lieven De Key, a famous 17th century, renaissance architect and sculptor.
Housing in the Netherlands
To eliminate dreadful housing conditions, which existed in the Netherlands at the end of the 19th century, the government introduced the first Housing Act in 1901.The act gave the central government three important instruments to intervene in public housing:
-Financing rented accommodation by housing associations and municipalities
-Operating grants to keep rents affordable for low-income people
-Building regulations to improve housing construction and the housing stock
Housing associations
On the basis of the Housing Act 1901 housing associations were founded in every city; originally all on a political or religious conviction. With government aid they contributed very much to the development of a better housing standard, especially in the years directly after the Great War (1914-18). The achievements in the field of housing had a great impact on the development of architectural and urbanistic ideas in the 30’s. (The Amsterdam School, Berlage, the Stijl). These were the years in which the Amsterdam Extension Plan (AUP 1934) was exemplary for the ideas of CIAM.
As a result of the government’s interventions and intensive involvement, via the municipalities and the housing associations, the housing shortage is practically dissolved, the quality of the housing stock is reasonably high and there is no evident segregation in residential areas.
The housing associations own approximately 1/3 of the housing stock and roughly 3/4 of the rented sector: this makes the subsidised sector far larger than in any other European country.
Urban regeneration
In Amsterdam almost 2/3 of the housing stock belongs to housing associations and is originally meant for lower-income households and is mainly residential. Due to this fact many high-income households decided to leave the city to live in suburban and rural areas with more single-family housing. This is eroding the basis for many urban amenities.
To improve the urban residential quality the government has earmarked almost 5 billion euro in the 2000-2010 period for the redevelopment of built-up areas, the improvement of public space, creation of parks and recreational amenities and room for starting economic activities.
On the other hand the government stopped its direct subsidies to the housing associations in the early 90’s. The government shifted from object-related subsidies to subject-related subsidies on house rents. To further owner- occupied housing the government reduces the income tax related to the mortgage rent. The owner occupied market grows over 50% and is expected to grow to 70% in the next decades. However in a city like Amsterdam the owner occupied sector is at a mere 20% at the moment.
Housing associations become “social enterprises”
Many housing associations have developed over the last 10-15 years into vigorous, independent real-estate organisations demanding more freedom of movement. An increasing number have ventured into areas in which regular commercial parties operate, due to their considerable, expanding assets. In doing so they are able to set new standards again, some 100 years after the 1901 Housing Act. Their social mission however is still the mainstay: giving access to good housing for those weaker groups in the society.
Their community-oriented organisational capacity and sizable social capital are brought into play on behalf of the goal of social revitalisation and urban rehabilitation as for the housing of vulnerable groups: the elderly, the homeless, students and young workers as well as low-income families.
The provision of care as such however does not belong to the associations’ domain of work. Investing in real estate on behalf of care- institutions may very well do so. The integral redevelopment of a residential area but also an obsolete industrial area belongs to the domain of the associations, although quite frequently in close cooperation with the municipality and commercial parties: project developers and financiers.
Associations may well match profitable investments with less or even non-profitable investments. Associations enable themselves to do so by selling dwellings out of their stock, thus increasing the number of owner-occupied houses. In general this is regarded as a contribution to the sustainability of the residential communities and prevents social segregation. The central government closely monitors the social performance of the associations within their circumscribed domain.
Behind this background Fer Felder will go into the results and projects of one of Amsterdam’s most well known housing associations. The Key and its development department, the Principaal, use their resources and capacities to stimulate ambition in the projects they initiate, in order to make Amsterdam attractive again for broad groups of inhabitants. The Principaal works within a long-term mission on an overall non-loss basis, which enables us to go further than profit oriented developers.Frits van Dongen, Kees Christiaanse as well as MVRDV realised projects for us. |
