Performance Agreements in the Dutch Social Housing Sector - A Powerful Policy Tool to Promote Sustainability and Alleviate Energy Poverty?

Abstract

This research examines the content and quality of the agreements made in performance agreements between Dutch municipalities, social housing associations and their tenant associations in the case study area of the Amsterdam metropolitan area, focusing on the issues of achieving a sustainable built environment and alleviating energy poverty among their tenants. A mixed methods approach consisting of qualitative content analysis and the development and application of a sustainability and energy poverty indicator was applied to this novel research, which examined a total of 48 performance agreements signed by 32 municipalities and 36 social housing associations. The results of the content analysis show that while the identified sustainability and energy poverty themes are generally reflected in the PAs, there is considerable variation in the coverage of each theme. In addition, the findings of this study indicate that a very high level of specification in the agreements is only achieved for a few issues. The two indicators developed show that in both cases the overall quality of the performance agreements analysed achieves an average low-medium score. However, the indicators also show that while some individual agreements excel in their level of quality, others fall significantly short, with a wide range between the best and worst performing agreements. Another interesting finding is that the performance agreements that were supplemented with addenda due to the abolition of the landlord levy were among the best performing documents in terms of quality, indicating an improvement of the agreements in time. The conclusion suggests that the policy instrument of Performance Agreements is already a widely used tool to promote sustainability and alleviate energy poverty in the Dutch housing stock, while still offering considerable potential to improve both the content and the quality of the agreements.