Vacancy and the housing shortage: why does it come up so rarely in politics?

In a conversation on Omroep AfroNet, two guests ask why vacant buildings barely get a mention in the House of Representatives, even though everyone is talking about the housing shortage. Figures from the CBS show that the picture is more nuanced.

Why do you hear so little about vacant homes and offices, when the Netherlands has a major housing shortage? That question is at the heart of a new conversation from Omroep AfroNet, published on 28 October 2026 under the title "Politiek NEGEERT leegstand: Waarom horen we hier NIKS over?". Two guests talk about their experiences with the topic on social media and about the role of politics.

One guest raised the topic on TikTok and is himself active for a small political party. The other says that ever since arriving in the Netherlands he has been struck by the contrast between the housing crisis and the empty spaces he sees. Names and positions were not included in the material provided, so we do not mention them here. The broadcast itself contains no response from property companies or political parties.

Disbelief on TikTok

The conversation begins with an experience from practice. According to the guest, he met a lot of scepticism on TikTok whenever he talked about vacancy. Some viewers called him a conspiracy nut. He says he would then point to CBS figures and share a link, after which those reactions often faded away.

That disbelief, he says, shows up elsewhere too. The housing shortage is widely acknowledged, but the vacant homes that could be renovated and given to people in need are, in his view, not discussed.

Seeing the problem, seeing the solution

The other guest puts his finger on the sore spot. Anyone walking through Utrecht sees plenty of vacancy, he says, and then it is hard to understand why there is still a shortage. The guest says he does not really know the answer for sure.

His own assessment is that the topic is not on the agenda of many parties. He also thinks large property companies have good lobbyists who manage to keep the topic off the table. That is his suspicion, with no evidence offered in the conversation itself. He also wonders why newspaper articles and CBS figures on vacancy are not picked up more widely by, for example, RTL or NOS news.

Which parties take it up?

Then the conversation turns to politics. The guest names the party he is active for himself. He stresses that he does not want to make an advertisement. According to him, it is one of the few parties with a support base that raises this issue and that is also seen at protests. He says the party holds a seat on the municipal council of Utrecht and in a few other cities.

With one seat you can raise the topic, he says, but little changes as long as the rest of the council has other priorities. In his view, that council leans mostly to the right. That assessment is the guest's own and has not been checked here. He also mentions a smaller party in Amsterdam. No response is included regarding a politician who, according to him, first stood at protests but supposedly forgot the cause after being appointed prime minister.

Background

The figures partly support the conversation and partly add nuance. The statistical housing shortage is estimated at 384,000 homes in 2026, or 4.6 percent of the housing stock, according to ABF Research. On 31 December 2024, the CBS counted more than 350,000 unoccupied homes. According to the CBS, for two thirds of the vacant homes the vacancy is short term, for example because of a move or a renovation. For 39,340 homes there was long-term vacancy with energy consumption, and for 25,020 long-term vacancy without energy consumption. In a report from August 2026, the Economisch Instituut voor de Bouw calculates that, after correcting for energy use, the number of truly vacant homes comes to roughly 30,000.

Politics, too, is engaging with the topic more than the guest suggests. EenVandaag reported that GroenLinks-PvdA wants to do something about vacancy in its election manifesto. According to a CBS researcher, around 90,000 homes had been vacant for more than a year on 1 January 2024. According to the law firm Houthoff, municipalities, including Utrecht, use a vacancy bylaw to tackle empty homes. The municipality of Utrecht says itself that it wants to have vacant buildings transformed into, among other things, housing.

Converting offices is not a quick fix. According to the CBS, around 7,870 homes were created in 2024 by transforming existing buildings, while the cabinet aims for 100,000 new homes a year. In the province of Utrecht, office vacancy fell from 19 to 7 percent between 2015 and 2023. The province writes that there is hardly any office vacancy in the municipality of Utrecht. So anyone who sees vacancy in the city may well be looking at other types of buildings.

You can watch the full Omroep AfroNet video on the page for this broadcast.

Bronnen

• Omroep AfroNet op YouTube: de video
• CBS: Voorraad woningen; eigendom, type eigenaar, status van bewoning, regio
• CBS: Aantal woonruimten in Nederland
• EIB: Het belang van de bestaande voorraad voor het oplossen van de woningnood
• ABF Research: Primos-prognose 2026
• Volkshuisvesting Nederland: Het statistisch woningtekort uitgelegd
• EenVandaag: Hoe het komt dat er tienduizenden leegstaande huizen zijn terwijl er woningnood is