PROHOUSE

Thousands of people are evicted annually in the Netherlands, with devastating impacts on individuals and society. While national courts have a key task in protecting human rights, legal research shows that international human rights law demands stronger protection from eviction than courts typically provide.

Yet, the extent to which Dutch courts protect against eviction remains unclear. Prior research only focuses on private law and tenant housing rights and overlooks the equally important property rights, evictions of other occupiers (e.g., homeowners, squatters), and evictions initiated by local governments (administrative law evictions).

In her research project PROHOUSE, Bruijn assesses and explains the extent to which Dutch courts protect citizens from eviction and the impact the rights to housing and property have on judicial decision-making in Dutch eviction litigation. For this, she uses innovative machine learning techniques for identifying and analyzing eviction judgments and measuring impact.

Duration of the project

2024 - 2027

Awarded grant

320,000 euros, obtained from Dutch Research Council Veni funding

Contact person at our Faculty

Mr. dr. L.M. (Michelle) Bruijn

Website with additional information