A cheap subscription to the library, to the swimming pool for free or to take the bus for free. These are some schemes for poor Eindhoven residents. Because more and more residents can no longer make ends meet, poverty organisations in the city want the schemes to be expanded.
Nowadays, Eindhoven residents are often entitled to poverty schemes if they earn 120 per cent of the social minimum, and that should be 130 or 150 per cent as standard, if it were up to the Samenwerkingsverband Minima Eindhoven (minima Eindhoven partnership). “This is really necessary. The group of poor Eindhoven residents who are getting into trouble is increasing. This is due to price increases and lagging wages. We want to raise the limit so that fewer people get into trouble. The municipality must prevent even more Eindhoven residents are in debt”, Bert-Jan Willems of the organisation explains. “That really causes trouble. As a municipality, it is better to prevent this by investing the money in advance in facilities”.
Large group
Willems continues: “About ten to fifteen per cent of Eindhoven residents are really in poverty and a large group is struggling. So it really concerns thousands of people”. According to Willems, the municipality has enough funds to expand the poverty regulations, and is therefore urgently appealing to the city council to make this happen in the coming years.
Improved minimum wage scheme
The Municipality of Eindhoven has announced that it is working to improve the minimum schemes, with extra money and simplifying schemes. There are also projects underway to prevent people from getting into trouble. For example, there are lessons about finances in secondary schools and in vocational education.
Furthermore, the Municipality of Eindhoven is looking at other municipalities for the introduction of new regulations. This could include introducing a specific city pass. A decision on this must be made in the first half of 2024.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
