Nieuwe Nieuwsmarkt #1: Housing Struggle
Nieuwe Nieuwsmarkt (NNM) is a biannual magazine for, about, and from the Nieuwmarkt neighbourhood. NNM is an initiative of Werker Collective and aims to address urgent matters affecting our lives in Amsterdam. By presenting stories, documents, and photos from both the past and the present, we create space for new collective actions.
NNM takes its name from Nieuwsmarkt, a bulletin issued between 1971 and 1972 by the Action Group Nieuwmarkt in protest against the municipality’s plans to demolish the Nieuwmarkt and Lastage neighbourhoods to build a highway and metro line.
In this first issue of NNM, we tackle the HOUSING STRUGGLE! We live in times where access to housing is becoming increasingly difficult in Amsterdam. Social housing is being sold to the private sector, while the waiting list for social housing is absurdly long and unbearable. Apartments for students and artists are scarce and unaffordable. After a 4.1% increase in 2023, rents will rise again by 5.5% in 2024. According to the International Rent Index, as of April 2024, Amsterdam is the most expensive city in the EU to rent an apartment, studio, or room. While many buildings remain empty, the law protecting the right to housing over property was abolished in 2010, and squatting was criminalised.
‘Nieuwe Nieuwsmarkt #1: Housing Struggle’ pays tribute to the original Nieuwsmarkt bulletin. How did citizens of the past resist homelessness and speculation in Amsterdam? What resources does the new generation of Amsterdammers have?
