The vacant buildings on the north side of Woenselse Markt are used as sleeping places by homeless people. That is what residents in the neighbourhood say, who say they experience nuisance from this.
According to local residents, the boarded-up shop that used to house a bridal fashion store has been a coming and going of all sorts of shady people for weeks, especially after dark. People are also said to have gained access to the empty farm on Woenselse Markt. “The police drive by very often to get people out of the building”, a resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, says. “The buildings are besieged by squatters”, another says.
The police confirm the story. “It is true that people without a fixed abode or residence are sometimes taken out of a building or home there. We do not have any information on how often this happens exactly. We have included this as a point of attention in our surveillance and therefore regularly take it into account”.
According to the police, enforcement and atmosphere management of the municipality are also involved. The buildings would be an attractive target for homeless people to spend the night, because of the ‘favourable’ location. “It is an easy passage from the city centre via Kruisstraat and Woenselse Markt to other parts of Eindhoven. And there are several shelters in the area, think of Hemeltje and so on. People often look where there is an opportunity to spend the night, for example in vacant buildings, homes or abandoned places like this one”.
Miracle
The empty buildings, surrounded by greenery, are located on a large plot of land owned by the same owner. One of the buildings is a monumental farm from 1912. “It is simply a miracle that this farm still exists!”, Bauke Hüsken, Eindhoven expert and historian,says. “Of all the approximately 200 farms that stood in Zuid- (south), Midden- (central) and Oost- (east) Woensel around the war, this is one of the few farms that survived the demolition frenzy of the 1960s. You can see from the location where the border of the built-up area of Woensel was at that time. The fields and meadows started north of Woenselse Markt”. A local entrepreneur has an idea why the land has been empty for so long. “The municipality is not offering a market-conform price for the land, we heard from the owner. And as long as that does not happen, there will be no deal”.
Another entrepreneur, who does not live in the area but does have a storage space less than a stone’s throw away from the buildings, sees what it is doing to the neighbourhood. “It is causing the neighbourhood to deteriorate. The municipality itself has that in its own hands. By not concluding an agreement on the land, it just keeps existing”.
However, the municipality reports that in September it agreed to a request from the owners to have a price determined by the court. “That procedure is still ongoing, we will not make any further statements about it”. After contacting the municipality, the buildings have just been boarded up again by the owners.
Deterioration
Eindhoven expert Bauke Hüsken does not live near Woenselse Markt himself, but he is nevertheless not amused that the historic buildings are being attacked by squatters. According to him, that is a crying shame. “I am very concerned that this farm is preserved and that it is not open to squatters. It is not without reason that it has been a municipal monument since 2007. It is a shame to see this authentic part of Woensel deteriorate. Hopefully something will be done about it”.
Source: Studio040
Translated by: Bob
