Dutch monitor finds persistent discrimination in rental housing

A new Dutch rental-market study found that people with Moroccan-sounding names were less likely to be invited to view a home, while 78.5% of letting agents tested still made room, directly or indirectly, for landlords’ discriminatory requests.

The findings come from the fifth national monitor on discrimination in home rentals, sent to the House of Representatives on Wednesday by Housing Minister Elanor Boekholt-O’Sullivan. The study uses correspondence tests comparing fictitious applicants and mystery calls in which actors pose as landlords seeking to exclude particular groups.

In the correspondence tests, the net discrimination rate was 14% for men with Moroccan-sounding names and 16% for women. The previous monitor, covering 2024–25, found no discrimination for the groups it tested.

The mystery calls suggest a longer-term improvement in agents’ responses, but little change since the last monitor. The share that gave discriminatory requests room was 78.5%, compared with 77.5% in 2024–25 and 84% in 2020. Agents more often recognised such requests as discriminatory, the ministry said, but did not always reject them.

The Verwey-Jonker Institute will carry out the monitor for two more years. A national social-media campaign is planned for this autumn, while municipalities can take action against landlords in discrimination cases, including imposing fines.