No vacancy at the inn

Here are some recent headlines from the Dutch news:

Housing minister calls for immigration curbs, current rate ‘could disrupt society’ [link to story]

Drinking water sector warns it may struggle to keep taps running [link to story]

Electricity supply issues will hit housing development, builders say [link to story]

The text of all of them is that the Netherlands can’t continue with its current immigration policies. It’s surprising to see this so openly said in the mainstream press.

As a recent immigrant, this obviously puts me in an awkward position, but it’s clearly not sustainable for the current system to go on forever. The current system favors high earning, tech workers, which the country has a shortage of. It’s a clear win in some regards: we pay a lot of tax, use relatively little resources and are a net boon to the economy.

But that’s not the whole story. We outcompete locals for housing in the big cities and use resources in an already small and densely populated country.