The Long Council
Who was selected, and why
Can the Netherlands solve the housing crisis, and if so, how and on what timeline?
The central tension
Whether housing shortages require market-based solutions (deregulation, private investment) or state intervention (public housing, rent controls, planning reform), and the timeframe tension between urgent need and sustainable long-term solutions.
Selected members
John Maynard Keynes
Will argue: Public housing investment can simultaneously address housing shortage and provide economic stimulus, with financing through government borrowing justified by social returns
Housing represents a classic market failure requiring counter-cyclical public investment and demand management · His framework for public investment during economic downturns, municipal housing advocacy, and the "socialisation of investment" argument from the General Theory are directly applicable
Margaret Thatcher
Will argue: Deregulation, private ownership expansion, and reduced planning constraints will increase supply more effectively than state provision
Her Right to Buy policy and privatisation framework represent the market-based approach to housing policy · Housing Act 1980, documented positions on property ownership as social policy, and her framework for reducing state provision while expanding private ownership
Helmut Schmidt
Will argue: Mixed public-private model with strong regulation can deliver both quantity and affordability while maintaining fiscal responsibility
German social housing model and his experience managing housing policy during economic pressure in the 1970s · West German social housing policy, his documented approach to balancing fiscal discipline with social provision, and infrastructure investment as governance priority
Lee Kuan Yew
Will argue: Comprehensive state intervention through public development, forced savings, and long-term planning can solve housing crises completely within 15-20 years
Singapore's Housing Development Board represents the most successful state-led housing program globally, achieving 90%+ homeownership · HDB policy, CPF integration with housing finance, and his documented framework for using housing policy as social engineering and wealth-building
Elinor Ostrom
Will argue: Multiple overlapping institutions (local, national, EU) with community participation in planning decisions will produce better outcomes than top-down solutions
Housing involves commons problems (land use, infrastructure) and requires governance institutions that neither pure market nor pure state approaches address well · Her polycentric governance framework and design principles for managing shared resources apply to urban planning and housing commons
Considered but not selected
Franklin D. Roosevelt: — His New Deal housing programs are relevant but Keynes better represents the economic framework
Indira Gandhi: — Her experience with urban housing in India is relevant but less applicable to Dutch institutional context
Konrad Adenauer: — German reconstruction experience valuable but Schmidt covers German housing model more comprehensively