I lived in Amsterdam for a long time, and the Dutch government initially took a very liberal stance on squatting exactly for the reasons you mentioned. And initially it seemed to work, the squatters were a mix of idealists, artists and others, otoh property owners tried to find creative ways to make sure their properties didn't stay inhabited for too long, e.g. by renting it out temporarily.
However after some years, the situation slowly changed: more and more squatters were drug addicts, who ofc couldn't afford to pay rent; also the word spread outside of NL that it was possible to go to Amsterdam and live there for free, so loads of immigrants came with no intention to rent at all.
Apart from that, squatting exposed another problem: the squatters typically didn't care too much about their home or neighbourhood, after all it was not theirs and sooner or later they'd have to move out again.
So they typically caused a lot of irritation with their neighbours because of garbage of noise.
In the end, squatters in NL lost most of the goodwill they had with the Dutch government, and stricter anti squatting laws are now in place.
However after some years, the situation slowly changed: more and more squatters were drug addicts, who ofc couldn't afford to pay rent; also the word spread outside of NL that it was possible to go to Amsterdam and live there for free, so loads of immigrants came with no intention to rent at all.
Apart from that, squatting exposed another problem: the squatters typically didn't care too much about their home or neighbourhood, after all it was not theirs and sooner or later they'd have to move out again. So they typically caused a lot of irritation with their neighbours because of garbage of noise. In the end, squatters in NL lost most of the goodwill they had with the Dutch government, and stricter anti squatting laws are now in place.