Why are more and more people leaving Randstad?

Inclusive Rural Development Professor Bettina Bock at Nieuws en Co. says: “You have bigger homes. You have more green space around you, more peace and more value for money. Especially if you can sell a house in the Randstad.”

corona

According to Bock, Corona also affected the departure from Randstad. “Before Corona, we already saw that people over 50 are leaving, and the number of people over 50 who will sometimes live outside the Randstad increases. But with Corona and the experience of working from home, you see that people who are still working say: If I don’t have to be in Amsterdam every day, I can also live somewhere else.”

housing crisis

“But don’t forget the housing crisis, too,” Bock says. “Certainly people who want a house with a garden or want to start a family, find it very difficult to find an affordable home in Randstad. It is easier to do it outside of Randstad.”

Implications for the quality of life in cities

“At the moment it is OK. Relatively small numbers are leaving and it is not yet structurally affecting the population composition of the city. Will this continue? More and more young families and the elderly are leaving and the trend of more and more young people moving into the city continues, and this is still the case. The case, in the long run, you are going to get cities with a lot of young people and young people that you can’t afford to move and live.”

“It changes the climate. It changes the interaction. I personally live in a student town, Wageningen, and they usually go to bed later than people with young children, to name a few. They have a different lifestyle and need different types of services than older people. Age “.

Repercussions in the countryside

“What we do know is that people over fifty who move to villages often feel strongly about volunteering, to contribute to the quality of life, because they also find social cohesion and community strength attractive as well as peace and space. Young families can play an important role, because they You bring young children to schools and nurseries. And maybe those young families start a business.”

But there are also negative consequences. “What you see is someone is leaving Randstad, and they can usually sell their house for a price and buy something outside Randstad for that money. That raises the prices. There is hardly anything for sale outside Randstad, which means it has become unaffordable for the people who live there. It can have the effect of crowding. You also see that the villages are worried about it. There is already a shortage of your youth, which can have a negative effect. And with the coming of age over 50, there may be an increase in old age.”

Government

“The great thing is that there is recognition of the quality of life in the countryside, but it also shows how important it is to maintain that quality of life and how important it is to invest in facilities. For the people who are already there, but also to make it attractive to people from outside. Think about care, schools, mobility, but also in the quality of life.”

“When it comes to life, it is important to make sure that the displacement effect does not happen and that it remains a pleasant place to live for everyone. That there is enough room to live too. The government has all kinds of plans to build a lot of houses. People in Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe are worried about this. They say. : Don’t just build people on the outside, you build for people who already live there. Build for young and old. So that the flow goes again and goes into space again. But don’t fill in everything either. Maintain that quality of life.”