With the arrival of November, the winter weather is definitely approaching. So Springplank040 is busy preparing everything for the winter emergency shelter.
This emergency shelter, which was in the Klokgebouw last year, will have to be moved to another location in the city this year. “The Klokgebouw now has other things planned,” says Thijs Eradus of Springplank040.
“We are working on another location, where we can accommodate 70 to 100 homeless people. We expect to be able to give the go-ahead next week. By then, the city council must have approved the plan.” According to Eradus, the number of homeless is not higher than last year, although he does see the number rising. “Last year we ended up with about a hundred people in emergency accommodation. We are now preparing for that number as well.”
Last year, many Eastern Europeans came to Eindhoven for emergency accommodation. Homeless migrant workers from cities like Tilburg and Den Bosch also came to Eindhoven for shelter. Springplank040 hopes to overcome this problem in a better way now.
More contact
“We are now in much more contact with shelters in other cities so that we can accommodate people sooner in their own city”, says Eradus. Yet that does not mean that fewer homeless people are expected this year. “We see the number of homeless Eastern Europeans increasing all the time. We are also going to cooperate with the Barka Foundation, which helps Eastern Europeans to return to their own countries.” But that has not yet solved all the problems, according to Eradus.
From 55 to 90 people
“There are also more and more Dutch people who now have to rely on the streets.” That has to do with corona, Eradus explains. “In the past, people without a roof over their heads often slept on other people’s sofas. Because of corona, that hardly happens anymore. As a result, we have seen the number of people in regular shelters increase from 55 to 90.”
In order to better help that target group, Springplank040 is working on a real estate strategy, to reduce the group relying on the regular shelter back to 55.
Winter emergency shelter
But that is something for the longer term. Right now, the main thing is to get the emergency winter accommodation in order. Eradus is not yet able to say where that location will be. “We first want to be able to inform the local residents about the plan,” says Eradus, who is aware of the fact that the arrival of such a shelter can be a sensitive issue in just about any neighborhood. “That is why we first want to properly communicate with local residents.”
The expectation is that Springplank040 will quickly come up with a new location. “The moment the temperature at night goes towards zero, we can open, and then we will stay open until March,” says Eradus.
Source: Studio040
Translation: Anitha Sevugan
