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.
Because they are heritage listed buildings and need to be repaired to look exactly the way it was before. This means you need specialists to come in and figure out how to do it. You receive some assistance as far as I know but it’s still a nightmare to organise.