This curious form of accommodation arose after the Second World War due to the housing shortage. Also contributing to this was the fact that in those years the Dutch fleet was modernized and hundreds of cargo ships became available for use as housing.
At first, the inhabitants of these makeshift canal houses were the hippies.
How much does a houseboat cost?
The prices of these houses are somewhat lower than those of traditional houses but carry more maintenance costs. Every three or four years, owners must take the boat to the shipyard for a complete overhaul, which usually lasts about a week.
Apart from the maintenance costs, the inhabitants of the houseboats must pay a rent for the parking of the boat, some special taxes and an insurance that is also more expensive than that of a normal house.
Currently the canals of Amsterdam are completely saturated, some approach coach hire in Amsterdam to get closer to the world and, even if you wanted to buy a boat and park it in them, there is no space left to settle. The only option is to buy an established boat.
Houseboat Museum
To know how the space was distributed and to know some of the advantages and disadvantages of living in a floating house, you can visit this boat that was used as a house until 1997.
In this museum house you can walk through its spacious living room, imagine yourself cooking or see the tiny beds where its former visitors slept. They will give you a brochure translated into Spanish, where interesting facts about life on the channels are exposed.