A biting wind swept across the grounds of the winter emergency shelter for homeless people in Meerhoven on Tuesday afternoon. During a working visit, councillors were given an inside look at the shelter, which has been dealing with an increasing number of homeless people in Eindhoven. The solution to the issue appears simple. “Build, build, and build,” is the unanimous message from the politicians.
The Springplank040 shelter organisation is managing to cope, partly due to the dozens of places available in the winter emergency shelter. However, Director Thijs Eradus does notice a shift. “Previously, it was mainly Eastern Europeans. Now, it’s people who should be in regular shelters,” he explained in an interview with Studio040.
This shift is hardly surprising. After all, the regular homeless shelters are struggling to keep up. The number of long-term homeless individuals is steadily rising, putting additional strain on the shelters. It was recently revealed that the municipality of Eindhoven has even been forced to house some people in hotels.
Not on the streets
‘No city or municipality can cope with the number of homeless people,’ said Labour Party councillor Wil van Haalen. ‘It’s about building, building, building so that there is throughput and people can be helped.’ Her party colleague Rosa van den Nieuwenhof added: ‘This shelter is wonderful, but also the basis and the minimum for a human existence.’
With a reproachful look at The Hague. ‘The largest group that falls between the cracks are people with psychiatric or addiction problems. That has everything to do with government cutbacks. There are no social workers and no homes for them,’ Van Haalen says firmly.
Support
‘As a municipality, we can take care of the distribution of homeless people and creating support is very important. Some people will not like it (a shelter, ed.) in their own neighbourhood,’ said Gisèle Mambre of GroenLinks Eindhoven.
One example is the shelter on Fuutlaan in the Villapark neighbourhood. The shelter is a new concept in the Netherlands, where homeless people are not only accommodated for a short period but also intensively guided towards help and housing. Neighbours complain about unrest brought by visitors to the centre. From half-naked people on the street to drug use outside the door.
At the winter emergency shelter in Meerhoven, things are a lot more amiable, according to the counsellors. ‘In general, the atmosphere in the group is good and the neighbourhood is also happy with how things are going,’ says one of the tour guides.
Sleeping in the freezing cold
The councillors therefore leave with a mostly good feeling. ‘I’m glad it’s there. They have a roof over their heads and don’t have to sleep in the cold air,’ says Mambre. Van den Nieuwenhof and Van Haalen of the Labour Party also concur. ‘Better than sleeping in the freezing cold. Then this is a safe place where you can sleep decently, get breakfast and shower. And can feel yourself human again.’
Source: Studio040
For Eindhoven News: Chaitali Sengupta
