Available for Streaming Now — Practical Advice for Expats and Internationals Navigating Challenging Times
Expaterience, the distinctive English-language talk show created by and for expats and internationals in the Netherlands, has produced a special double-themed edition. This fifth episode focuses on delivering concrete guidance and actionable insights to help viewers navigate today’s major housing challenges and prepare for the difficult winter months ahead.
Hour 1: Solving the Housing Crisis
Lead Host Sanjay Sharma sits down with experts and first-hand witnesses to examine the country’s ongoing housing crisis. The conversation will explore long-term prospects for market-driven solutions as well as the immediate, short-term consequences of the shortage — especially for expats, including both highly skilled professionals and labor-sector workers.
Guest line-up Hour 1:
Bart Reeser, Chairman NVM, Haaglanden branch, and Registered Real Estate Agent & Registered Valuer at Stokman Van Duren. NVM is the largest association of real estate agents and appraisers in the Netherlands and is partnering with the Dutch government to help accelerate the building of new homes.
Marco Sark, Co-Founder/Co-Owner of FASTGOED, a real estate agency that positions itself as offering a practical, hands-on approach to helping expats and internationals find their way in the complex Dutch rental and home-buying market.
Larisa Melinceanu, Deputy Director (Policy & Communication), Barka Foundation. Named after the Polish word for ‘life buoy’, Barka is committed to supporting vulnerable EU citizens who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. These are often people from Central and Eastern Europe who have come to the Netherlands in search of work.
Simone Dulcis, Housing Crisis Experiencer and Social Media Creator of @italiantodutch. A young Italian professional who moved to the Netherlands to rebuild his life from scratch, sharing his journey of fighting loneliness, connecting with locals, and showing what it truly means to change your life in a new country.
Special Report: The Housing Crisis – Why the Netherlands Can’t Build
In a special Social Media Report, Martin Simenrud examines how the Netherlands became stuck — and why the country now seems unable to build new homes at any meaningful scale. As he discovers, the core of the Dutch housing crisis may not be the shortage itself. After all, the Netherlands has the financial means and the technical expertise to build its way out. So what keeps the shortage in place? Martin may have uncovered a three-part problem standing in the way of progress.
Hour 2: Expat Well-Being – How to Survive Dutch Winters
In her debut as host of Expaterience, Nuthan Manohar, together with her four guests, discusses the challenges faced by expats and internationals who are confronted with the Dutch winter for the first time — or who, even after years, still struggle to adapt to the country’s frequent rain, cloudy skies, and long, dark months. Together they offer clear, actionable strategies to cope with, and even enjoy, Dutch winters.
Guest line-up Hour 2:
Julie Taylor, Founder of Buzz Networking, a community supporting solo business owners in the Netherlands.
Tetyana Benzeroual, Project Lead, Volunteer The Hague — organizer of the Mix & Match Volunteer Job Fairs, with the next event taking place on Saturday, November 29.
Vassia Sarantopoulou, Psychologist, Mental Health Ambassador, Founder of AntiLoneliness and AntiLoneliness Academy.
Edyta Nales, Career Coach and HR Manager supporting international professionals and companies across the Netherlands.
Stream Expaterience Episode #05 from Saturday, November 22 onward on:
expaterience.nl / YouTube / Facebook / Instagram / LinkedIn / Bluesky
and watch via Ziggo, KPN, Odido, Caiway/DELTA, and other telecom providers – more details: expaterience.nl
Expaterience is RTV Discus’ unique English-language TV show and online/social media project. True to its name, the program focuses entirely on the stories and experiences of expats and internationals in the Netherlands, highlighting both their successes and the challenges they face in personal and professional life, situated within the context of key social issues and current international developments.