I’ve lived in San Diego and thought finding housing there was hard but it’s a cakewalk compared to the hell that is finding an apartment in Amsterdam. I’ve considered leaving the city at times because finding somewhere decent here that’s also affordable seems close to impossible.
Second this. I think we have it mostly OK here in Antwerp (or Belgium in general) as renters compared to the rest of Western Europe, nothing like the horror stories from other cities. And the rents not absurdly expensive, low-quality or scarce, there are options. I’m really glad that there’s such a strong framework for renting with standard contracts, indexation and renter protections.