Samenvatting

As a result of the scandal of the biggest social housing supplier "Vestia" in the non-profit rented sector in the Netherlands in 2012 a change is the steering mechanism was desired. The Dutch parliamentary survey committee suggested three possible "purer" alternatives for the current hybrid system, based on a fundamentally different option for the central steering mechanisms in social public housing.
The first suggested option is a market based steering mechanism. In other sectors such as healthcare, the private market doesn’t operate more efficient, accountable, or medically effective than the public sector. Experts in the field discuss that the literature on organisational performance indicates that there is no consistent relationship between matters such as the internal and external governance structures of an organisation and its performance. The second suggested option is a state based steering mechanism. When incidents in a market occur a natural demand for more control of the government occurs. On the contrary a fear exists of than constructing a strong controlling society within which several parties rigidly control the sector. Experts state that the control of the government for the social housing sector should be stricter and direct, limiting the task field of social housing associations and to size down the complete sector by resignation of social housing associations in the sector. The third suggested option is a citizen ownership based steering mechanism. In literature this system shows resembling’s with "the third sector". The emphasis here was simply on being constitutionally outside the state and the market, and operating in the pursuit of ‘values’.
The question arose what effect each of three systems would have on the social performance of Dutch social housing associations and therefore the main research question is: Which of the three fundamental steering mechanisms for organising optimal social performance of the social housing sector in the Netherlands is preferred by Dutch key decision makers in social housing associations? Accordingly, the research questions are:
What do key decision makers at Dutch social housing associations think of the steering mechanism of- (1) market driven developments? (2) governmental influence? (3) citizen ownership? (4) Do key decision makers of different types of social housing associations think differently from each other about a suitable steering mechanism to improve social performance of social housing associations? (5) How do key decision makers working for different social housing associations define "optimal social performance"?
Data has been collected via semi structured interviews with key decision