Why does a social housing provider bet on interest rate fluctuations? This paper presents a case study of the financialization of both housing and the state. Social housing in the Netherlands is provided by nonprofit housing associations that since 1989 have been placed at a distance from the state. Many associations started developing housing for profit, borrowing on global capital markets, or buying derivatives. Whereas other semi-public institutions moved into the world of finance due to financial constraints, housing associations moved in to capitalize on the possibilities offered by their asset-rich portfolios. Vestia, the largest of them all, is an extreme—but not an exceptional—case of what can happen when public goals need to be realized by under-supervised and poorly managed private organizations. As a result of gambling with derivatives, Vestia had to be bailed out for over €2 billion. Housing was sold off to compensate for the losses, and rents were raised. Almost half of the housing associations used derivatives but most of them refrained from using them purely speculatively. The changes in the housing sector that led to its financialization cannot be separated from the wider financialization of the state.