association
Learn about the core values, governance model and history of our housing cooperative.
what is a housing cooperative?
1
we own it together
Our association, Vereniging de Nieuwe Meent, holds the building as a single asset on municipal land lease. Residents are members; nobody owns an apartment, and nobody can sell one.
2
we rent it to ourselves
Rents cover running costs and loan repayments — nothing more. All forty homes stay below the social-rent limit, without mid-range units to cross-subsidise them.
3
it never returns to the market
The statutes forbid profit and sale. Once the loans are repaid, surpluses go into new cooperatives: today’s rents become the seed money of tomorrow’s commons.
a new generation of cooperatives
Amsterdam is one of the most expensive cities in Europe to rent a home. It was not always so: the city once pioneered social housing, first through housing associations in the late nineteenth century, then through the Housing Act of 1901.
The same history pushed housing cooperatives to the margins. Non-profit associations grew into housing corporations — first a compromise between public service and private sector, later bureaucratic and unaccountable behemoths. Market housing became unaffordable, social housing insufficient, and the logic of housing-as-investment began to hollow out the city.
In 2019 the municipality set out to bring the cooperative back, with an action plan to turn a tenth of all housing into cooperatives within 25 years. A vacant plot next to Science Park station was tendered as a pilot. We are now one of the first completed projects, with many more in the making.
1901
the Housing Act that made Amsterdam a pioneer of social housing
18
housing cooperatives in the Platform Wooncoöperaties Amsterdam
~700
cooperative homes built, under construction or in advanced development in 2026 (Amsterdam Alternative)
7,000
cooperative homes the city aimed for by 2025 in its 2019 action plan
our core values
We came out of social movements and translated what we learned there into four core values. They are not slogans but a practical compass: whenever we take a decision, we try to make sure it upholds all four.
commoning
We take collective responsibility for our shared resources — spaces, money, tools and time — and decide together, by consensus wherever we can.
care
We strive to provide for our members’ social, physical and mental well-being, and to uphold relationships of trust, reciprocity and conviviality in daily life.
sustainability
We make sure our building and community help protect and reproduce life in all its forms. We aspire to give back and repair more than we take.
diversity
We are committed to equity and inclusion as a structural goal, not token representation. We work to grow safe, accessible and just futures for everyone.
what is a meent?
A meent is the old Dutch word for common land: pastures, woods and peat bogs that villagers used together and looked after together, because overusing them would ruin them for everyone. It names an age-old practice of self-organisation, collective action and shared creation.
We called our project de Nieuwe Meent, the New Commons, because commoning is more than sharing spaces. It is the ongoing practice of taking decisions together, caring for each other and reproducing our livelihoods. We hope to inspire new forms of commoning: of energy, food, care, labour, tools, knowledge and more.
Image: the Diemermeer polder, where Watergraafsmeer lies today. Detail of a polder map by Hoekwater, 1901 (via Wikimedia Commons).
governance model
We are a self-governing association. Decisions are taken in open assemblies, the Meentvergaderingen, by consensus and broad participation. For legally binding decisions, official members meet as the Meentraad. The spokescouncil — one spokesperson per workgroup — prepares the assemblies and distributes the work. The board keeps an eye on legal and financial continuity.
- Meentvergadering — twice a month
- residents, users, volunteers, neighbours · decisions by consensus
- Meentraad — at least twice a year
- 40 official members · budgets, annual reports, statutes · decisions by majority vote
- spokescouncil — weekly
- prepares assemblies, follows up, distributes the work
- board — monthly
- legal and financial continuity; no mandate of its own
a rhythm of meetings
350,000+
words of minutes since 2018 — the assemblies, the spokescouncil and the workgroups
1,000+
meetings, every one of them run by volunteers
12
board members since 2019
0
times we needed a majority vote instead of consensus
project timeline
Eight years from a call-out to a housewarming. The first delivery date was 2022; a pandemic, a war and an interest-rate shock later, the building stands.
- getting together
spring 2018
a call-out
The city tenders a self-build plot for a new generation of housing cooperatives, naming NieuwLand as an example. A call goes round: build a postcapitalist urban commune in Amsterdam Oost!
summer 2018
Sundays at NieuwLand
Public meetings, potlucks and info evenings. Like-minded architects join as volunteers.
fall 2018
workgroups formed
Legal, finance, design, community and media start researching our tender application.
late 2018
four core values
Commoning, care, diversity, sustainability. A wooden building, 100% social housing, and co-living groups are made central features.
31 May 2019
association founded
Vereniging de Nieuwe Meent and its statutes are signed at the notary.
12 July 2019
we win the tender!
After two rounds of selection. We naively expect to move in early 2022.
- designing together
2019–20
co-designing
Open workshops on floor plans, shared spaces and ways of living — member or not.
March 2020
into the zoom tunnel
The pandemic moves everything online. We finalise the preliminary design anyway.
Sept 2020
first admissions round
A public call for ten independent homes and three living groups.
Dec 2020
crowdfunding launched
Supporters lend us €450,000 in bonds within a year.
2021
second admissions round
Unit allocation, a diversity & inclusion plan, a solidarity fund — and the land lease with the city.
- deadlock
2022
financial deadlock
A delayed permit, a war, soaring interest rates: the business case breaks. New board members step up.
early 2023
petition & protest
Headlines call us almost bankrupt. More than 600 signatures, speeches at city hall, a coop bloc at the Woonprotest.
Sept 2023
mortgage signed!
The first housing cooperative financed by a Dutch bank, with former squats as guarantors.
- building
Oct 2023
gratitude ritual
A ritual on the plot to thank the earth, and each other.
Dec 2023
breaking ground
Groundworks begin; construction follows in January, six years after the first site visit.
2024
building up
A fourth admissions round and a 55+ living group; bylaws, co-budgeting and garden plans.
15 Dec 2024
highest point
We celebrate the top of the tower: 39 adults and 7 kids by now.
1 April 2025
keys
A shell building, no water, no electricity. The first inhabitants move in anyway.
April–Sept 2025
Do-It-Together
Carrying and pouring cement floors, sanding and lacquering wood, plastering clay walls.
- living
2 Sept 2025
moving in!
After six safety inspections, the building is ours to live in.
12 Dec 2025
thank-you party
44 adults, 6 kids and 4 cats say thank you to volunteers and investors.
10 June 2026
awarded
dNM is awarded the Amsterdam Architecture Prize by the Public Jury.
12 Sept 2026
housewarming
Streamers from every balcony: open house for neighbours and everyone who helped.
← swipe along the line →
documents
Our statutes set out what cannot change: no profit, no sale. Our bylaws, still in development, describe how we live and work together.
Vereniging de Nieuwe Meent · KvK 74985906 · founded 31 May 2019 in Amsterdam.