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Amsterdam braces itself for huge rise in homelessness

Amsterdam city council is to restrict access to homeless hostels as it looks to save more than €6 million as well as coping with an expected increase in the number of people living on the streets.

A policy paper entitled ‘reshaping social care’ (Herijking Maatschappelijke Opvang) says 24-hour reception centres should be available for a maximum of six months, by which time homeless people will be expected to have moved on to sheltered housing.

The council is preparing itself for the fall-out from the banking and debt crisis which is expected to lead to a drastic increase in the number of vulnerable people living rough.

Councillor Eric van der Burg told Het Parool that the restructuring was necessary because ‘a new group of homeless’ is expected to emerge in the next few years, consisting of illegal immigrants, addicts, former prisoners, people with psychiatric illnesses and women with children.

‘Sheltered housing will become the norm, 24-hour provision the exception’, the document states.

Reforms in the healthcare sector, where personal premiums have more than doubled in two years, are expected to hit the long-term sick and mentally ill especially hard.

The number of mothers with children who end up on the streets after losing or failing to gain refugee status is also forecast to increase.

The council is aiming to save a total of €6.25 million by 2014 through the reforms. It declined to comment on whether tightening the rules would lead to an increase in social disorder.

Source: Het Parool: Stad strenger voor de daklozen

Photo by Marcel van den Berg