The traits of the originality and at the same time of the weakness of a consolidated urban welfare model are recognised in recent social housing policies in Holland. This model recently went into crisis because it was over exposed to the negative performance of the property sector and weakened by government budget cuts. On the planning and local development front, the recent opening to private sector resources and more flexible methods of intervention, which also allow for innovation in forms of settlement, mark a new path, the special nature of which lies in the change from an almost exclusively negotiated implementation process to a more regulated one. The objective is greater protection of public interests in private sector redevelopments, pursued through ‘cost recovery' and ‘land value increase' estimates, which have a positive impact on the acquisition of areas and building rights for social housing.