Unaffordable

Unaffordable

April 7, 2026

The conference circuit is busy again. It seems as if there will be no real season this year. Normally, it starts after the summer. For instance, on Thursday, April 2, I attended a conference that began with a breakfast. It was organized by CINEX, but that is not particularly relevant here.

During breakfast, I ran into a former student. I was forced to stop teaching in 2012. This man is now in his mid-forties. He is, among other things, a successful real estate investor. We picked up where we had left off and updated each other on how things are going for us, both personally and professionally.

The conversation gained momentum, and he stated that anyone who does not yet own a home or property will likely be able to acquire one only through a possible inheritance. Foreign investors have bought up everything, driving prices to unaffordable levels. This former student belongs to a small group of local young people who have managed to hold their ground in the market.

I could fully agree. I argued that el capitalismo salvaje is rampant on the island and can no longer be stopped. Since the 1980s, under international influence, we have come to believe that capitalism, foreign direct investment, and neoliberalism would solve all socio-economic problems on the island.

In 1993, in the volume bundle Privatisering in Curaçao, terugblik en toekomst (Privatization in Curaçao: Retrospect and Outlook), I quoted a deputy: “We have been more communist than the Cubans. Look, everything is in the hands of the government, or the government is involved in it.” More than thirty years later, the situation is completely different. The government has less and less to offer the people. Only a small portion of the land remains in public hands.

By early 2026, more and more people are beginning to realize this, but what can still be done? A moratorium is merely a pause button.

The core question is whether the government is willing and able to reclaim control over land and housing policy. This requires deliberate choices: protecting scarce land through stricter allocation and zoning, prioritizing local buyers in sales and development, and actively using public land for affordable housing. In addition, speculation and vacancy will need to be curbed, if necessary, through fiscal measures.

Without such a recalibration, the market will continue to determine who can live here and who cannot. The question, therefore, is not only what can still be done, but above all: to whom do we choose the island to belong?

Miguel Goede