News of: Sunday, January 15 2006,
The LWO (the national Houseboat Association) has suggested that Amsterdam gets a monument listing for houseboats, similar to the monument listing for houses.
In Amsterdam there are about 2,600 houseboats, some of them very old. Because of the recent increase in houseboat taxes (30% this year, 20% last year), some boat owners will not be able to afford the maintenance of the boats, says the LWO.
According to the LWO, Amsterdam risks losing a substantial part of its cultural heritage because of this. Particularly historic ships (for which maintenance costs tend to be higher) suffer from this.
