Vosmaerstraat and other collective housing groups in Amsterdam are threatened
August 9, 2025
The residents of the residential complex located at Vosmaerstraat 1-321 in Amsterdam Oud-West strongly reject housing corporation DUWO’s plan to only admit students with a campus contract, starting in 2026. This will undermine the essence of communal living.
The former Observation house of the HvO association has been a house with communal living since 1985. Currently, it houses a unique community of nine communal living groups, with people aged between 3 and 71. Residents choose their new roommate when a space becomes available. This right is not just a tradition here; it is a right of consent enshrined in the current residents’ leases. The living spaces are shared and relatively small. To foster such a close-knit community of residents, some of whom have young children and pets, and to care for a communal garden with animals, such a careful selection process for new residents is essential. Having a choice is essential for the social cohesion, diversity, and inclusivity that characterize our community and ensures that the safe, sustainable, and pleasant living environment that exists today is maintained.
DUWO’s proposal to only admit students to our building, who can only stay for a limited period, will effectively convert the building into a student house. Besides creating an uncomfortable living situation for the residents and eliminating the care for each other and the building, this will also detract from the diversity of the city of Amsterdam; Vosmaerstraat 1-321 offers a home to filmmakers, writers, artists, musicians, DJs, teachers, people pursuing education in later life, and healthcare workers, among others. These are often people who are struggling to survive in our city.
People who explicitly choose to be part of a community – who share more than just a roof over their heads. They care for the communal garden and the house together and have a strong connection to the neighborhood.
We want this building to remain a safe, stable, and diverse place. If unique, collective living communities like this disappear from Amsterdam, they won’t easily return, and something will be lost in the city.
Reactions from residents of Vosmaerstraat to the plan:
“With our house, we are an example of what is possible when we don’t sacrifice every square inch of our lives to economic pressure.” (Resident, Vosmaerstraat)
“For us, the residents, Vosmaerstraat is a home, a place of love. Vosmaerstraat is also a place of creation and resistance, one of the last remaining islands for creatives and the people who make up a neighborhood, and, on a larger scale, a city.” (Resident, Vosmaerstraat)