Damme (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – Damme city council, led by alderman Christoph De Sutter, bans new holiday homes (except in Sijsele, Moerkerke, Den Hoorn) to protect locals from rising housing costs, noise, and empty neighbourhoods.
As VRT News reported, the city of Damme, near Bruges, in the Flemish region, Belgium, is getting more tourists, which means more holiday homes. People are turning regular houses into short-term rentals, which is good for tourism but is also causing problems in the local housing market. The city council has said they won’t allow any more houses to be changed into holiday homes.
They want to help locals who are finding it hard to find affordable places to live because there are fewer long-term rentals, and prices are going up because of the increase in holiday homes. They mentioned that this is making it tough for people to afford to live in their city.
What effects will Damme’s new holiday home rules bring?
The city council is also worried about the bigger effects of more holiday homes. They mentioned that even though tourists bring money, many homes are empty when it’s not tourist season. This affects local businesses that need people living there all year, not just during busy times.
By stopping more holiday homes, the city wants to keep a good balance in the economy and keep the community strong. They said that this is what many other towns in Europe are doing to help their residents and stop neighbourhoods from changing too much because of tourism.
The Damme city council is concerned not only about how holiday homes affect the housing market but also about the troubles they cause for people who live there. Alderman Christoph De Sutter explains that big groups staying in these holiday homes can often lead to problems.
He says that sometimes parties are held, which create loud noise at night and disturb the peace for nearby residents. The local police have reported that they sometimes have to get involved when people complain, which shows that it’s not just a small issue but something that affects the daily lives and well-being of the residents.
The new rules won’t apply everywhere in Damme. The sub-municipalities of Sijsele, Moerkerke, and Den Hoorn will not have any restrictions on holiday homes. The decision only affects new requests, so any holiday homes that were already licensed and approved in the city centres can keep operating as before.
The city is still welcoming new B&Bs (bed-and-breakfasts) in its centres. They mentioned that the main difference is that a B&B is always occupied by the person running it, so there’s always someone there to manage the place and make sure it runs smoothly, which likely reduces problems like noise or disorder compared to holiday homes rented out to groups without someone on-site to manage them.
