Market and relational precarity: chaotic pathways and housing strategies

In their article, Bryne and McArdle (2022) developed indicators of secure occupancy, and although their research takes rental (in)security as the guiding theory, market and relational insecurity are also relevant for housing precarity. As they argue, rental market dynamics dimmish tenants' options because housing remains unaffordable and unavailable, generating insecurity in the rental processes (ibid.). In the case of Amsterdam and Brussels, this can be seen in the competitive nature of the markets and tenant selectivity in the rental process that can take discriminatory forms, leading to chaotic pathways.

In their research on international students' housing experiences, Fang and Van Liempt (2020) touched on this market precarity. They argued that internationals are frequently double discriminated, as landlords prefer not to rent to students, and non-Dutch speakers have lower chances of being invited to house viewings. While, at times, it was difficult to distinguish whether non-Europeans did not get house viewings or offer because of the competitive nature of the market or due to their student status, the latter certainly did not help. After having attended more than 20 apartment viewings unsuccessfully, Anastasia and her friend were only successful when a landlord specifically wanted to rent to students:

The main difficulty was the fact that we are students. We are international students. And also, we don't have a working contract, therefore. So they want adults, or they only had like, one registration offer so you can only live like as a one person. But we managed to find a place who were surprisingly specifically looking for students. The landlords were like an older couple of they bought a house outside of Amsterdam, and they just wanted to rent it to students, which was actually very much very nice on them. (Anastasia, Russian -Amsterdam)

Other students who were unsuccessful in their housing applications recalled their 'performance as ideal tenants' (McKee et al., 2017; Waldron, 2022). Still, uneven power dynamics and subjective renting processes meant that students were struggling to access shared housing:

I didn’t even get to get a chance to talk to her. I felt like she had already chosen the one whom she's gonna live with. Even though she's not a landlord or landlady, she's just one of the tenants. So yeah, I just felt like wow, this is quite a competition to find. I should be more attractive to even the roommates. (Seoyeong, Korean- Amsterdam)

After universities reopened and rental prices went up after the pandemic, students saw the rental market become less accessible. They reported rent increases of €200 for new contracts, as landlords exploited this situation. Catalina underestimated the market and was faced with without having accommodation at the start of September. She reported that the search processes felt like a contest, and which over a hundred messages on posts, only the 'cool' candidates had a chance to be invited:

This year has been insane. It was really different from 2020, and I never expected to take such an amount of time just to look for a house. It felt like, like a contest. The housing became like a casting, really, it was awful. You have to sell yourself like if you were the best candidate, like do strategies to get people to feel that it's attractive to live with you or whatever. (Catalina, Chilean - Brussels)

Contrary to research by McKee et al. (2020), where young people in the PRS reported status anxiety and feelings of frustration or failure for not being able to transition to homeownership, students in this student experienced these feeling in not being able to 'manage' their next accommodation. These reinforced students' self-doubts, who individualized their failure by blaming their lifestyle choices (e.g., partying and smoking) and high expectations for their unsuccessful situation. Considering the high competition, students found themselves in 'the clock is ticking' situations, knowing how quickly rooms are rented online. This led to anxiousness and made students more likely to fall victim to scams as their risk awareness got lower. Furthermore, first-time students sometimes were not aware of realistic local rental prices. Jia, after months of unsuccessful applications, gave into this market pressure and was scammed:

I was not sensitive enough to realize that there may be something wrong with the price with the location and all that stuff (…) So I do everything as he told me without any hesitation because I'm so afraid that it may be booked by other people. And at the moment I just think that I just want to get everything done as quick as possible. (Jia, Chinese – Amsterdam)

Exploitive landlord behavior was frequently reported, too, illustrating students' feelings of powerlessness and insecurity (McKee et al., 2020). This included letting students pay extra for days before the moving-in date (€100-200), not paying back deposits, or sudden evictions when landlords intended to sell the property. In other cases, relational security was undermined through landlords' unannounced monthly visits for room inspections and

out of the university accommodation in Amsterdam and accepted semi-illegal accommodation without a rental contract or address registration. Half of her apartment was rented as an Airbnb, so she constantly found herself living with strangers. She remained in place, thinking it was her only option. After an incident in which the landlord got angry, Samantha left, knowing she would become homeless overnight:

I had like a day to leave. Yeah, it wasn't safe to live with him. Similar things have happened to previous girls that have lived there. And the last time it happened, I was there as well. And the landlord got like physically aggressive with the girl. So at that point, I was like, I don't want to go back. Like if he's mad at me, then I can't go back to that house. (Samantha, British – Amsterdam)

These findings underline the isolated position of students in the rental markets of capital cities, where exploitation is accepted out of necessity (Gilmartin et al., 2020), and students adapt strategies like remaining in place or minimizing complaints (Waldron, 2022; McKee et al., 2017).

Aside from remaining in place, students also adopted the opposite strategy, namely moving frequently or moving out of their study city. In Brussels, temporarily living in different cities was considered a starting strategy while searching for accommodation in Brussels or was only realized upon graduation when new job opportunities presented themselves. In Amsterdam, however, four students temporarily moved outside the city to find more affordable and accessible housing. Zihan’s choice to move to The Hague was motivated by his wish to stay in the Holland2stay PBSA accommodation, which was not accessible in Amsterdam but still available and more affordable in other Dutch cities. As he only had class once a week, he prioritized his desired accommodation and rental security over the location. Samantha also moved to Haarlem during the summer break, previously unable to find accommodation in Amsterdam. For her, however, this did not prove to be a sustainable alternative:

I love Haarlem, I prefer it to Amsterdam. I thought it would be cheaper but like realistically it is not any cheaper. The room was €650 still and then with the train price and everything. And like travel time. I had to get up like two and a half hours before the lecture, it was just not feasible. (Samantha, British – Amsterdam)