Despite the appeal from poverty organizations, there will be no extra support for poor Eindhoven residents for now. This has been announced by the city council.
The Samenwerkingsverband Minima Eindhoven (SME) appealed last month to the municipality to allocate extra money for the growing number of poor residents. Currently, Eindhoven residents with an income below 120 percent of the social minimum are eligible for poverty schemes. SME wants to stretch that to 130 percent.
Example
The SP also made that call Tuesday night. The opposition party thinks that Eindhoven should follow the example of many other municipalities in the country, which also use 130 percent as a starting point. Moreover, according to the group, prices have risen everywhere, causing more and more people to find themselves in difficulty.
Budget
Alderman Saskia Lammers does not yet want to promise that 130 percent of the minimum will be the starting point for poverty programs in the city. However, she does indicate that she wants to look into this quickly. Early next year the city council will come up with an adjustment to the poverty policy, and Lammers does not want to anticipate this yet. “We also have to take into account the available budgets and consider them well first.”
Gifts
However, Lammers does want to be more lenient when it comes to gifts given to poor residents. Currently, residents on welfare may receive a maximum of 1200 euros as a gift. On the initiative of six parties in the City Council, Lammers wants to stretch that to 1,800 euros. “We want to create confidence with this. It cannot be that people have to worry about their benefits with every message.”
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Chaitali Sengupta
