CORPORATE HOUSING LIVING: A new brand helping internationals find long-term housing in the Netherlands

Corporate Housing Factory has long assisted internationals and their corporate employers in finding suitable lodging, but until recently was primarily focused on temporary and short-term accommodation. They’ve now launched a brand-new long-term stay label: Corporate Housing Living. Co-directors Jouke Baaima and Michael Berendsen filled us in on this new project.

Until now, your focus was on helping people from abroad find the right temporary housing. With Corporate Housing Living, you’re also facilitating long-term housing. Why did you launch this label?

Jouke: “Flexibility. We were getting an increasing number of long-stay requests, for over six months, and wanted to be able to cater for those, too. Demand was quite high already but then got sidetracked by the pandemic, so now we’ve made a whole new start by setting up this label. It gives us the flexibility to respond to these requests from corporates and clients while also providing the sector with expertise on furnished rentals and internationals.”

Michael: “Right. We’ve already got the clients, because they come to us and we’ve been in the market for years. That means we’re on good terms with clients as well as being easily accessible. We were seeing that more and more people are having to stay longer in short-stays because they couldn’t find their next place straight away. Since we’re well connected with both the corporate market and real estate providers, we can match them up. Being a single point of contact for our clients, they can count on speedy service and assistance with whatever they need.”

Where do you offer accommodation for your Corporate Housing Living clients?

Michael: “It may sound odd, but it’s basically on request and theoretically, we can offer places anywhere. So, we tailor to what clients ask. We do expect to do more of our own projects in future, which means we’ll be on board straight from the development phase. That will also give us options to look more specifically at what’s available in a building and how to offer it. Our ideal would be a building with both short and long-stays, but it really depends on what the client wants. That’s the leading factor for us.”

You’re also specializing in housing for some specific professions, is that right?

Jouke: “Yes, we’ve also been talking more with organizations that are trying to secure housing for professions like police officers, healthcare workers and teachers who can’t find housing the usual way. We consult with building owners or investors, and if they want to come on board, we arrange the housing for people.”

Michael: “And as a middleman, we can supply that housing demand faster and more easily because we can arrange for a larger number of places in a given building. It’s completely different to making one-off arrangements for individual people. Right now, we’re assessing if we can do more of this on a larger scale. If everyone makes an effort, I think we can accomplish a lot. If all sides are willing and they commit, we will get there.”

Jouke: “Absolutely. There is a huge housing shortage at the moment, of course, but also a large labour shortage. We need to find some sort of balance. Everyone is desperate to hire and trying to drum up people from all over, including international. Which is fine, but you can’t offer someone a job and then say, ‘oh, sorry, the commute’s three hours because there are no places to live anywhere nearby’. We are trying to help out with that. And Corporate Housing Living also supports people to settle in and feel more like locals instead of ‘internationals’, so they can live in Amsterdam and feel like ‘Amsterdammers’, for example. Our fully customizable services are designed to make people feel at home in no time and help out with whatever might be needed, from finding a cleaner to questions about getting a TV subscription. With their home situation sorted and comfortable, tenants can focus fully on getting to know the country and their new workplace.”