Gentrification and the Urban Poor: Urban Restructuring and Housing Policy in Utrecht

A major housing policy shift is occurring in the Netherlands in the early 1990s. Its main thrust is the decentralisation of control from the national to the regional level. The trend toward deregulation and budget cuts will give market principles more leeway in housing. This paper traces the impact of these policies on the housing situations of low-income groups. Some of the anticipated effects are illustrated in a case-study of housing and neighbourhood change in the Utrecht metropolitan region. The paper starts with a sketch of the shifting housing market positions of various residents against the backdrop of social trends. This state of flux is related to current economic restructuring and to the new housing policies. Competition between population groups is highlighted in the case-study of Utrecht where gentrification and the regional cooperation of housing authorities are changing the rules of the game. At present, displacement is the lesser evil, compared to the debilitating effects of renewed suburbanisation. But in the future, the effects of gentrification will depend on the regional redistribution of socio-economic groups. It may create serious problems if the low-income population is not offered housing opportunities in the suburbs.