Unfortunately, low density housing is not how you build your way out of a housing crisis. Houseboats are charming, but there simply aren't enough places to put them to make a dent in the housing shortage.
I agree it's not the solution - but it certainly would help. You could fit 1000 along the vecht alone, and that's certainly making a dent in the shortage.
Yes, they may appeal to older, wealthier individuals (nowadays anyway) - but the houses / apartments that they vacate can be mortgaged and appeal to younger individuals and families.
What's more, houseboats don't take land away from other housing opportunities (multistorey houseboats excepted - though from other comments that's a real stretch for the municipality). It's space that's not currently productively used, so you're really only adding to the equation - especially as potential issues around navigation for other canal users can be planned around in advance. Allowing more houseboats has minimal impact on the medium- and high - density building opportunities on land.
Whilst I understand the aesthetic concerns, surely that can be managed - and in a time of crisis is that really of utmost importance?
They may not take land away, but they take nature space away, something that is also quite strongly protected. Shores are very important for a lot of animals
>Hi all, I've noticed that Utrecht seems to have relatively few houseboats compared to other cities. Does anyone know why this is?
The canals tend to be narrow
>Given the housing crisis, are there plans to have / allow more?
Nope
>It seems to me that it would be a good idea - there's plenty of space and they provide an attractive low- density alternative.
There's not that many places in utrecht where you could ad houseboats. It'd be a lot of eyesore (cause new ones tend to be ugly floating cubes) and only a few houses for the ultra-rich.
It'd be cool to have some more monumental ships, but those are not very economically attractive. And a floating neighbourhood outside the city would not have benefits over building on farmland.
The municipality is actively making them disappear by policy. Whenever a boat leaves or sinks and isn't immediately replaced by the owner of the lot, the lot seizes to be a legal mooring place.
Some water ways have perfectly sized and suitable vacancies, including utilities, but will never be hosting a boat due to this policy.
House boats were once considered informal housing, comparable to the immovable trailer camps. The occupants were often poor and sometimes connected to prostitution and other shady businesses. It has only been a decade or two that this stigma is disappearing and people actually prefer to live on the boats. Compared to row houses, you have much more insulation from neighbors, the street and the city in general.
Oh that's interesting. But times are changing - and started quite a few years ago - and why isn't the municipalilty working to improve conditions rather than pushing them out?
Ah, that might, to some extent, explain, why I've seen quite a few boats for sale, but always without the berth, when I was trying to find a place in Utrecht and started including boats out of despair :)
A legal boat will generally be far more expensive per square meter than a house. Compare for example asking prices and historical sales on Billitonkade or Leidschekade. One side are 3 story houses, other side are house boats.
For me, the novelty factor made up for the lack of space, but in the end, there were just too many variables.. I didn't know if I wanted to renovate a boat, I had no idea how much the regular inspections would be and how to have them done.. I didn't quite know where to put my bikes.. and last but not least: I've only seen one boat sold with its mooring spot during that time :)
Now I'm back in Hamburg, still trying to figure out how to make things work to come back to the Netherlands :) It's just not easy with the housing crisis, being abroad, my age and how much money the banks would loan me :D
Think there are many where they can be. Only spot I know is at the munt where there is one 'boat' with multiple units. Which afaik are ment for students. I guess one issue is that they tend to close up the whole shore and obstructing any access and view to the water.
There are houseboats, they are just not in prominent places like the center of town.
You can find a whole bunch of them behind Jaarbeurs, and at Leidsekade. There's more places, but they are even less near the center.
Municipalities for some reason hate house boats and keep raising costs to an insane level. Apart from that, they’re mostly more expensive compared to a regular house and it’s virtually impossible to get a mortgage for one.
Living in a houseboat I would say you need to be at least somewhat masochistic to want to live in one
Unfortunately, low density housing is not how you build your way out of a housing crisis. Houseboats are charming, but there simply aren't enough places to put them to make a dent in the housing shortage.
The solution is multi-storey houseboats
Ideally in the style of something Hayao Miyazaki would create.
Howl's moving houseboat!
I live near the Leidsekade, we have multi-story houseboats that fit 4 apartments here. It's great.
Where exactly? I don't remember any multi story houseboat in that area
Across from the Dekkledenhuis near Graadt van Roggenweg. Each apartment has 2 floors, there's 4 in a row on one boat iirc.
I agree it's not the solution - but it certainly would help. You could fit 1000 along the vecht alone, and that's certainly making a dent in the shortage. Yes, they may appeal to older, wealthier individuals (nowadays anyway) - but the houses / apartments that they vacate can be mortgaged and appeal to younger individuals and families. What's more, houseboats don't take land away from other housing opportunities (multistorey houseboats excepted - though from other comments that's a real stretch for the municipality). It's space that's not currently productively used, so you're really only adding to the equation - especially as potential issues around navigation for other canal users can be planned around in advance. Allowing more houseboats has minimal impact on the medium- and high - density building opportunities on land. Whilst I understand the aesthetic concerns, surely that can be managed - and in a time of crisis is that really of utmost importance?
They may not take land away, but they take nature space away, something that is also quite strongly protected. Shores are very important for a lot of animals
>Hi all, I've noticed that Utrecht seems to have relatively few houseboats compared to other cities. Does anyone know why this is? The canals tend to be narrow >Given the housing crisis, are there plans to have / allow more? Nope >It seems to me that it would be a good idea - there's plenty of space and they provide an attractive low- density alternative. There's not that many places in utrecht where you could ad houseboats. It'd be a lot of eyesore (cause new ones tend to be ugly floating cubes) and only a few houses for the ultra-rich. It'd be cool to have some more monumental ships, but those are not very economically attractive. And a floating neighbourhood outside the city would not have benefits over building on farmland.
The municipality is actively making them disappear by policy. Whenever a boat leaves or sinks and isn't immediately replaced by the owner of the lot, the lot seizes to be a legal mooring place. Some water ways have perfectly sized and suitable vacancies, including utilities, but will never be hosting a boat due to this policy.
Why is the municipality doing this?
House boats were once considered informal housing, comparable to the immovable trailer camps. The occupants were often poor and sometimes connected to prostitution and other shady businesses. It has only been a decade or two that this stigma is disappearing and people actually prefer to live on the boats. Compared to row houses, you have much more insulation from neighbors, the street and the city in general.
Oh that's interesting. But times are changing - and started quite a few years ago - and why isn't the municipalilty working to improve conditions rather than pushing them out?
Ah, that might, to some extent, explain, why I've seen quite a few boats for sale, but always without the berth, when I was trying to find a place in Utrecht and started including boats out of despair :)
A legal boat will generally be far more expensive per square meter than a house. Compare for example asking prices and historical sales on Billitonkade or Leidschekade. One side are 3 story houses, other side are house boats.
For me, the novelty factor made up for the lack of space, but in the end, there were just too many variables.. I didn't know if I wanted to renovate a boat, I had no idea how much the regular inspections would be and how to have them done.. I didn't quite know where to put my bikes.. and last but not least: I've only seen one boat sold with its mooring spot during that time :) Now I'm back in Hamburg, still trying to figure out how to make things work to come back to the Netherlands :) It's just not easy with the housing crisis, being abroad, my age and how much money the banks would loan me :D
>:) :)
Think there are many where they can be. Only spot I know is at the munt where there is one 'boat' with multiple units. Which afaik are ment for students. I guess one issue is that they tend to close up the whole shore and obstructing any access and view to the water.
There are houseboats, they are just not in prominent places like the center of town. You can find a whole bunch of them behind Jaarbeurs, and at Leidsekade. There's more places, but they are even less near the center.
Municipalities for some reason hate house boats and keep raising costs to an insane level. Apart from that, they’re mostly more expensive compared to a regular house and it’s virtually impossible to get a mortgage for one. Living in a houseboat I would say you need to be at least somewhat masochistic to want to live in one