The parliamentary inquiry looking into a string of scandals at Dutch housing corporations begins public hearings on Wednesday.

The inquiry aims to find out why housing corporations have become involved in corruption, fraud and property speculation over the past 20 years.

Roland van Vliet, the former PVV parliamentarian who is chairing the commission, says the inquiry will go further than just collecting information. ‘Responsibilities will also have to be established,’ he said.

Housing minister Stef Blok has also said action needs to be taken. ‘We need to be able to prevent these sort of excesses taking place in the future,’ he is quoted as saying by Nos television.

Conference centre

Recent scandals include that of Rotterdam housing corporation Woonbron, which lost €230m when it bought the former ocean liner SS Rotterdam to turn into a hotel and conference centre,

Amsterdam-based Rochdale ending up demanding millions of euros back from its former boss, and Zuid-Holland corporation Vestia almost going bankrupt after speculating on the stock exchange.

Many corporations also paid their directors vastly inflated salaries.

Cheap housing

Housing corporations were first set up in the mid-19th century to provide cheap, good housing to the poor without making a profit. The movement took off at the beginning of the last century and corporations were set up by a wide variety of church, political and union groups.

Today, the Netherlands has some 500 or so housing corporations which rent out, maintain and manage 2.4 million homes – over one-third of the country’s housing stock.

Housing corporations mostly focus on the rent-controlled sector but have branched out into more expensive homes. They are now under pressure from the government to go back to their roots and focus on cheap housing for low income households.