Long-term care minister Mirjam Sterk told parliament on Wednesday that the government’s goal to reduce homelessness to zero by 2030 is impossible, saying she wanted to “tell the honest story”.
The fourth Rutte cabinet set that goal in 2022 in its National Action Plan for Homelessness, seeking to move away from temporary emergency shelters towards permanent housing, backed by a €450 million annual budget.
“We remain committed, but it’s incredibly tough,” said the minister, who had informed parliament of her intentions in a letter last week. The announcement took some MPs by surprise.
“I did expect some urgency from this cabinet, but what I see is indifference,” socialist party SP MP Sandra Beckerman said.
And while the government says it will do its best to bring down the rising numbers of homeless people via existing plans to arrange suitable housing, parliament members from Pro, the ChristenUnie, D66 and CDA remain unconvinced.
The mayors
In response, the mayors of the four major Dutch cities wrote a letter to the House of Representatives on behalf of 40 other large councils asking for an additional €100 million to provide more emergency shelters and help treat crack and cocaine addicts, among other things.
Alderman Arjen Dubbelaar of The Hague says he needs €14 million to offer shelter to homeless people. “That deficit is only increasing,” he said. “We don’t want people to sleep in parks, but at the same time our reception locations are packed.”
The minister says that money won’t be forthcoming until the Chamber first figures out where the current allocation is being spent, and no new targets have been set.
Some 33,000 people aged between 18 and 65 in the Netherlands currently have no permanent place to live, most of them in the big cities, where it is relatively easy to earn money. The real figure may be higher, as it is not known how many people are staying with family or friends.
